The Indominus effect (Mass effect)
by RedLightningD608
Summary: It has been over 100 years since humanity discovered Dark Matter and harnessed its volatile power to devastate the very foundation of the galaxy and its various species. Now a century after the Dark Matter war, what secrets lay buried in the savage minds of the beast that use to be humanity and how can a handful of aliens unlock whats been forgotten? (rewrite now posted)
1. Chapter 1

**Here it is the bettera version of the Indominus Effect I've been working on! I have to say I'm quite happy with the outcome of this story and I have to give special thanks to Ghostleader199 for being my Beta and helping to edit so much of this story. If not for him this story would be far worse quality reading wise and please remember that Australians spell color as colour and armor as armour.**

 **Anyway lets get to the story, I got a bunch of blood thirsty monsters just waiting to meat you heheheh enjoy!**

* * *

 **Sol System  
2162  
Earth Orbital Installation 202  
1200 hours**

Sitting silently in orbit over the glowing sphere of greenery and ocean that was humanities home planet of Earth, rested a large colossal structure several km's in circumference and easily dwarfed the scattered, hulking hulls of the Turian Hierarchy warships standing guard like silent sentries.

The station was oval shaped in design, with large openings lining its hull to allow access for small merchant vessels and colossal warships alike to dock with the station known only as EOI202.

202 was just one of a number of instillations resting in orbit over Earth and constructed by the galactic community as a whole, with each installation acting as the universes eyes and ears to monitor the frightening ecosystems resting on the planet below.

Earth, the dirt pile treasured by the young and virtually extinct humanity, was a cruel and harsh planet near impossible for the various races of the galaxy to inhabit directly.  
With its soil stained with the radioactive like energy of Dark Matter, the planet's surface was near intolerable to all but the mutated monstrosities that dwelled on the planets scarred and ruined surface.

The only place one could safely visit the Earths surface was one of the numerous Indominus holding facilities. Remarkable yet old structures of military design that were built to house the most terrifying predator known to haunt the planets of the galaxy.

A predator, that the young Turian Garrus Vakarian planned to watch over and keep secure as he sat there on Installation 202 with his eyes gazing lazily across the class room at his elderly Turian pointing away at a projection on the wall.

Turians were a strange carapace skinned, bird faced species that inhabited the planet of Palavan. With their predatory ancestry and military strict culture, the Turians were the galaxies leading military force and peacekeepers across the entire known universe.

Sitting there with blue colony markings etched across his face, Garrus' pale plated face stared at the teacher as he rambled on about the military tradition and importance of the Indominus holding facilities on the planet below the station.

"Can anyone tell me where the Indominus rex originated?" the elderly turian with black face paint asked with a twitch of irritation from his mandibles.

The teacher knew his class was losing its focus and drifting into the realm of fantasy, many of these young recruits would soon be going planet side to begin careers on the surface below, hunting great beasts and securing the infamous military instillations.

"Sir the Indominus rex originally evolved from the species homosapiens" someone spoke up confidently, earning an approving nod from the Teacher.

"Correct" inhaling deeply, the teacher waved his Omni Tool diming the lights and bringing up a display on the wall for the class to see.

"Nearly 100 years ago, the species known as Humanity were brought into the galactic community by the Volus" began the teacher, causing a projection to snap to place of a group of humans outside a building talking to the small bolder like species known as the Volus.

"Humanity was an intuitive and fiercely territorial race of predators on the planet know as Earth, evolving around several great conflicts over land and sea. Many of the naval concepts used by the Hierarchy military today can find their roots inside humanities military doctrines of that era" stated the teacher, earning surprised looks from his class of students.

Many of whom were rather shocked that a bunch of primitive upstarts had a better military philosophy than the great Turian Hierarchy itself which had been unchallenged for thousands of years.

"Remember, Humanity was still relatively young species, yet they were by far ambitious learners. How did this ambition pay off?" asked the teacher, earning hesitant glances from the students in turn.

"Humanity developed Dark Matter technology?" spoke up Garrus cautiously, earning a few disgusted scowls from his class mates for mentioning the volatile energy.

"Very well done, yes humanity developed Dark Matter reactors" an image of various machines were displayed to the class while the teacher rambled on.

"Humanity as mentioned was a territorial species, when they were introduced to the galaxy they became scared of our superiority and thus poured their resources into finding a game changer to protect themselves, the result was humanity using the most corruptive and deadly source of energy in the galaxy" the teacher showed a picture of a dark matter bomb being detonated, the weapon producing a large ball of black light that carried the devastation potential of a nuclear warhead.

"But sir, how does this relate to the Indominus species?" asked a class member in confusion.

"Very acute, while I've refreshed your minds on the topic, I thought it best to go over the history of how they came into being. You see my dear students, it is because of humanities use of Dark Matter that the Indominus came into being" Garrus sat upright a little more in his chair, he heard this before when he was younger but just how the Indominus's became living creatures was one of the galaxies biggest mysteries.

"For many years humanity lived in peace with the galaxy, slowly building its dark matter technology for security and protection. Until one day one of its people snapped upon a visit to the Citadel" the teacher took on a solemn look as an image of the giant 50km long space station appeared on the wall.

"It was that day, which the universe was introduced to the Indominus rex" the Teacher sighed sadly.

A moment of silence passed as the screen went dark, plunging the class into darkness.

"Someone explain to the class what an Indominus is" said the teacher's voice.

"Sir the Indominus rex is a large theropoda predator that stands nearly 15 feet tall and 40 feet long" stated a student.

"Sir it's a highly evolved apex super predator with acutely developed sensory organs and camouflaging abilities to ambush prey"

"Sir they are blood thirsty monsters, nothing more nothing less" remark someone sourly.

"Sir the Indominus is a hideous mutant that humanity made to kill innocent people"

The Teacher closed his eyes, ears taking in the growing uproar from his students as they argued and shouted their opinions on the matter. The good, bad and ugly were thrown around the air as students all voiced their perspectives, voiced their understanding of the beast from folklore, gaming media and of course, from history lessons as younger children.

"The Indominus rex are Humans" spoke up Garrus, causing everyone to go silent at once.

Silently, the teacher played the recording for everyone to see, showing the pale skinned frail looking human being slowly mutating in a sickly manner into the massive predatory form of an Indominus rex.

All students were silent as the real life recording showed those cold red eyes glaring at the screen, showed those wicked fang filled jaws that could bite through an armoured vehicles. Eyes took in the layer of thick white scales protecting the beast from harm and the bony like armoured spikes that covered the back and neck of the creature.

Long arms flexed their deadly spear like claws while powerful krogan like legs slammed against the ground below with devastating power and weight.  
Then came the roar, as loud as a chemical engine and painful as the shrieks of a dying man, the beast roared with all its power making the class recoil in shock as the audio speakers in the room were pushed to the max.

Waving the glowing holographic form of the Omni tool wrapped around his arm, the Teacher reactivated the lights and stared out at the shocked expressions etched into his student's faces.

"The shock of the transformation on the human mind, accompanied by the development of new instincts and autonomy, renders the Indominus a mindless beast only capable of raw instincts and cold calculative actions, they are the reason why the holding facilities exist" the teacher gave everyone a stern glare.

"If just one of those predators made it into a developed city, the devastation could be in the thousands of lives…. If a single Indominus made it to a colony world, we could lose an entire colony, they truly are the universes most destructive land predator" stated the Teacher coldly, eyes glancing to the side at the frozen image of an Indominus rex plastered across the wall.

Garrus felt a shiver run down his spine, none of the video games he played had ever captured the cold murderous look of the Indominus's stare. No video game or artistic drawing of the beast had ever showed the pure destructive potential of those jaws, Garrus for the first time since he applied for this program was beginning to question his desire to work with the beast.

His great grandfather had fought in the Dark Matter war, he battled the humans and Indominus alike on the field and in person. The young Turian felt a surge of respect for his ancestor for bravely going to the field to fight such a creature of nightmare.

* * *

 **Sol System  
2162  
Earth planet side  
1200 hours**

 **'** **Thump Thump'**

'Pat pat pat pat'

 **'** **Thump Thump'**

'Pat pat pat pat'

 **'** **Thump Thump'**

'Pat pat pat pat'

Strolling through the deserted streets of a crumbling and overgrown city, the bulky, muscle rich forms of Earths top land predators strolled along casually like one would walk down the footpath.

With heads held high, the terrifying jagged tooth forms of not one but two Indominus rex's stomped down the street at a leisurely pace. Large 3 clawed feet pounded the crumbling concrete of the road, while long heavy tails slashed lazily through the air like dancing serpents.

The lead Indominus was the largest of the duo, standing over 15 feet at the shoulder, the black scaled Indominus rex with amber red eyes was covered in dark grey armour plating and complex weaponry. Harden sheets of nano infused battle plate were fasten securely to the predators hide via various synthetic webbing and expertly crafted interlocking plates.

Head held high with confidence and power, the Indominus showed off her display of power for all to see as she took the lead down the street, indicating her rank of pack Alpha.

Beside her, a smaller 12 foot high Indominus rex covered in brown scales trotted along nervously in the Alpha's shadow. She was a thinner specimen of the species, with colourful green eyes that bore a kind softness and long quill spikes of a pinkish purple hue running down her neck. The smaller Indominus was rather elegant and beautiful compared to the strong powerful form of the Alpha.

Nervously, the brown Indominus clicked her claws together in thought, eyes glancing around the old rusty and down trodden buildings covered in vegetation's with a hint of fear.

 **"Shepard, what if you lose?"** garbled the brown Indominus with a soft frightened voice.

Shepard glanced down at her smaller companion, fangs parting slightly as she calmly spoke a reply.

 **"Book you need not worry, I will not fail to protect you"** reassured Shepard, her eyes softening slightly as she looked at the smaller predator huddle close beside her for comfort.

It was reassuring to have the small Indominus so close in this hour of strife, Shepard also knew that it was comforting for Book as well to be close bye. Amongst Indominus society Book was a highly sought after and incredibly rare specimen of the species, not only was she one of the elusive few females who bore fertile reproductive organs.

Book was also a Tech priest, an Indominus rex whose electromagnetic sensory organs were so acute and so powerful, that Book could metaphorically hack into any piece of technology and increase its performance as long as that technology used Dark Matter of mass effect physics to function.  
In a world where power hinged on one's ability to scavenge the technology off humanities remains, Book was Shepard's ace in the hole and most closely guarded companion.

It was because of Book's value and importance that Shepard was clad in her combat armour. As pack Alpha, Shepard had the honoured tradition of representing her pack and protecting it from outsiders. Outsiders included rival human packs of Indominus rex's who all wanted Book for their own personal gain and power.

It sickened Shepard how low humanity had fallen after the population became the predators they are today, with most of her people impounded in the various holding facilities. Those who escaped capture or escaped the prisons had a hard life ahead of them in a dark matter infested world where everything tried to eat each other.

Shepard didn't really remember much before the change into her current form, she knew she used to be a biotic Special Forces soldier for the Human Alliance. After that everything was hazy and didn't make much sense to her, but what did make sense was how to fight.

So fight Shepard would, and if it meant fighting off a pack of better armed and experiences human Indominus's to keep Book safe, then Shepard would fight with tooth, claw and missiles with all her might.

Nuzzling the top of Books head, Shepard purred reassuringly to the frightened predator momentarily before those amber eyes snapped forward to glare at the opening ahead of them.

Directly ahead, was the large barren wasteland leading up to the site of a dark matter bomb explosion many decades ago. Both predators could virtually feel the warmth of the dark matter buried in the soil, waiting for the right moment to lash out and claim any poor critter not immune to the volatile energies lethal touch.

 **"Book remember what to do when the fighting starts?"** asked Shepard, eyes snapping down to the smaller predator once more with concern.

 **"** **Find a safe place to watch the fight and stay there until the fighting is over"** said Book hesitantly, like a teenager hesitantly answering an over concerned parent.

 **"And remember to cheer for me too"** added Shepard, eyes twinkling with amusement as Book made a soft chuckle sound.

Taking a moment to regard the area, both top predators strolled into the open and towards the crater at the centre of the clearing. With luck, they would get there before the rival pack shows up. Book had no desire for that cold Alpha known as Miranda to see her again, the cold hearted killer seemed to regard Book as nothing more than a reproduction tool to make her pack larger.

An outlook that Shepard would personally beat out of the arrogant Indominus's thick skull by the end of this fight.

Reaching the edge of the crater, Shepard lowered herself onto her armoured chest and closed her eyes as Book went to work giving the armour one last look over for faults or loose webbing.

Books muzzle scanned every inch of the armour, both eyes and sensory pits in her snout examined every plate, every piece of webbing between the armour and every wire that may have gotten loose during transport.

With a wave of her skull, the brown Indominus seemed to magically activate a hidden compartment across Shepard's back, causing the suits own portable Dark Matter reactor to fold into view and outside its protective housing. For a moment nothing seemed to happen as Book just stood there with her muzzle inches from the glowing piece of technology, then with a loud snort Book drew her head away and purred as the reactor began to glow brighter than before.

Nodding her head in satisfaction, Book gentle pushed the reactor back into place before turning her attention to the missile pods latched onto Shepard's hips. Book was worried the launchers would malfunction again, she didn't know how to calibrate the targeting system for such a complex weapon. All she did know was how to reload the pod for later use, a skill that nearly cost her an arm in the past when she first discovered the armour system.

 **"You know, I wonder who Ingen was"** remarked Book as she inspected one of the meter long guided projectiles between her claws before gently shoving the ordinance back into its respected tube.

 **"Because whoever they are, I'm thankful they took the time to make us these suits of armour"** continued Book before Shepard could reply, earning a soft rumble from the Alpha in agreement.

She couldn't fault Books outlook on that matter, whoever Ingen was their suits of armour had come in handy over the years, it was a miracle that the suit they found even fitted Shepard's frame.

As Book continued her work, Shepard's eyes wandered across the crater to where 3 armoured forms had gathered upon the other side. Those armoured forms were more humans turned Indominus, Shepard wasn't sure what to call them anymore.

At heart they were human beings, but on the outside they acted like the ferocious Indominus rex they appeared to be. Shepard just preferred to call them human Indominus to avoid the confusion.

Miranda, the Alpha of the opposing faction was a large slender Indominus standing slightly shorter than Shepard herself. Her body was clad in the sleek silvery plates of light Indominus armour. sporting a pair of laser cannons on her hip opposed to Shepard's own missiles.

Beside the murky white Alpha on her left side, stood a large armoured form bristling with heavy cannons and missile pods of various calibre. Shepard was relatively surprised to see the weapon specialist on the field as the armour suit was apparently pretty rare in this part of the country.

Sporting large wing like structures across the back and neck, the green scaled weapon specialised sported a pair of turbo laser cannons, 20mm triple barrel auto cannons and more missiles than Shepard could count. With thick hydraulics surrounding his legs and upper body, Shepard couldn't help but notice how slow and stiff the Indominus looked as he paced around beside his stoic looking Alpha.

On Miranda's right side was a more common place set of armour, clad in basic and simple plates of protective metal. The dirty brown coloured Indominus female had a nasty scare running across her face and stood as stoically as the Alpha, holding her position clearly as the Beta of the pack and second in charge.

Shepard's eyes couldn't help but notice the laser rifle clutched in the betas claws, another rare piece of human technology Shepard wasn't used to seeing in the field. However Book couldn't help but notice one key detail on all three adversaries, their equipment looked old and heavily worn out from use.

A fact that didn't escape Shepard's eyes as she pondered how well her enemy could use their gear in combat.

Rising to her feat, Shepard gave Book a gentle nudge with her muzzle before strolling to the edge of the crater. Book took one last look at her Alpha, before turning tail and running as fast as she could towards the safety of the buildings in the distance.

 **"Last Chance Shepard, surrender and I might show some lenience towards you and the tech priest"** roared Miranda from the other side of the crater, her voice ringing through the air and echoing in the bowel below.

 **"And let myself be abused by a twisted human like yourself, shut up and fight me!"** snarled Shepard in return, her body suddenly glowing brightly as she tapped into her natural biotic ability.

Biotics was a rare and powerful gift in some Indominus that allowed them to manipulate the forces of dark energy and gravity to their will. If focused in the correct manner, biotics could be used to cast natural protective fields of energy around the user's body, capable of deflecting bullets and missiles of all manner for a limited amount of time.

Shepard on the other hand knew how to use her biotics in another manner, she knew how to use it to attack.

With a snap of her jaws, a sphere of glowing blue energy shot forth from Shepard's jaws like a cannon shell, racing across the crater towards the opposing pack.

Miranda and her goons scattered in reply, with the Beta skidding down the craters slopes while the weapons specialist let loose a barrage of missiles in retaliation to Shepard's biotic attack.  
Seeing the ordinance racing towards her, Shepard jumped down the slope of the crater as well, her body glowing with biotic energy and armour growling as the dark matter thrusters across her body snapped online.

Laser and cannon shells flew towards the biotic as she hit the ground, her barriers deflecting the deadly bullets while her armour absorbed the blistery bite of the laser cannons that could bypass kinetic barriers such as those created by biotics.

With a roar, the Beta charged head on towards her. Laser rifle spitting bolts of burning hot light that scorched Shepard's scales and armour. In reply the significantly less powerful point defence lasers on Shepard armour spat beams of burning hot light in retaliation, making the Beta flinch in her wild charge.

Spotting her chance, Shepard slashed her arm at the air causing a bolt of biotic energy to lash out and slam into the Beta's chest. For a moment nothing happened, then the Beta snarled as gravity was thrown to the side and launching her into the air against her will.

Having no time to waste, the thin visor of tinted glass over Shepard's eyes flared to life with a warning, alerting the biotic to an incoming wave of fresh missiles streaming towards her.

Taking a step back, Shepard arched her body upwards bringing all her point defence lasers to bare on the incoming barrage. Letting well programmed software run its course, the point defence lasers did their intended job as they filled the air with burning beams of light that detonated several missiles mid-flight.

But not all the beams detonated there target, and a moment later a violent explosion of fire and smoke spewed loose earth across Shepard's glowing form.

Elsewhere, huddle amongst the collapsed form of a building, Book stood hunched low to the ground with the pigment of her scales reflecting the landscape around her. Like a chameleon the Indominus's scales mirrored the surrounding terrain, allowing her to blend in perfectly with her surroundings like she was clad in sophisticated camouflage.

To the outside world, Book looked like nothing more than an odd piece of rumble besides a building, but in reality she was still a hard, cold predatory machine that could kill at a moment's notice.

For now, Books attention wasn't on the process of hunting and eating. But turned solely onto the smoke clouds gushing upwards from the crater in the distance, from afar Book could hear the crackle of machineguns, the hissing zap of laser cannons and the deafening boom of exploding missiles shaking the air like thunder.

Worry swelled inside the Tech priest as she wondered if she did something wrong, was the armour strapped tightly to Shepard's frame, was the reactor fitted properly to the suits systems, had Shepard had enough to eat before combat so her biotics wouldn't tire her out so fast?

What ifs played through her mind over and over until suddenly there was a lull in the fighting? Weapon fire ceased abruptly and Books eyes widen with worry as she spotted the form of the weapons specialise through the smoke.

Suddenly a black armoured mass erupted through the smoke, fire spitting from the dark matter engines scarred across Shepard's armour surface.  
Book wanted to cheer in joy as her Alpha skidded across the ground, a single missile flying from her weapon pod to streak towards the enemy combatant like a bullet.

But something was wrong and suddenly the missile went berserk, spinning out of control the Weapons specialist casually stepped to the side and turned his head to watch Shepard's missile fly off into the distance and detonate against a sky scraper.

Undeterred, Shepard pushed herself to the side, biotics glowing to lower her own molecular weight and allowing her dark energy thrusters to practically levitate her above the ground.  
Another duo of missiles spat from Shepard's weapon pods, this time both missiles flew home with one detonating against the Weapons specialist kinetic barriers with a mighty explosion. The other slammed into the earth beside the armoured Indominus, showering him with dirt and temporarily blinding him.

Skidding to a halt, Shepard stood there watching the smoke cloud caused by her missiles while also letting her suits system a moment to vent built up heat. Using all the lasers, thruster engines and shield amplifiers caused the suit to build up tremendous heat energy, energy that if not expelled caused equipment malfunctions and made it very uncomfortable to fight in.

With her heads up display system scanning for targets, Shepard's eyes darted about the place in search of Miranda. The biotic Alpha had a suspicion that Miranda may also be a biotic, one significantly less powerful yet still a significant danger on the battle field.

Movement around the crater edge brought the enemy Beta into view once more, and without hesitation Shepard turned and fired another missile from her weapon pod.

The missile shot straight and true, zooming in right for the enemies chest region until a furry of red laser bolts flew through the air and detonated the missile a few meters from the designated target.

The Beta snarled loudly as the force of the explosion still caused her to lose her footing, resulting in the armoured predator sliding down the crater slope once more and to the bottom.

Shepard's eyes were more interested in where the lasers came from, earning her the sight of a rather murky white Indominus glowing with bluish purple energy of a biotic.

 **"You Bitch!"** snarled Miranda, swiping her tail at the air like a whip and launching a wave of biotic energy at Shepard.

Shepard reply was to duck low and slam her hand against the ground, sending a shockwave of energy pulsing through the ground and towards Miranda.  
But the enemy Alpha spotted the shockwave coming and jumped into the air, dark energy thrusters bursting to life to launch her several more meters and out of harm's way.

 **"Keep up princess!"** yelled Shepard, letting loose a blast from her jaws that shot towards the biotic like a cannon ball.

Miranda didn't have time to dodge as the blast slammed into her side, almost blasting through the kinetic barrier and knocking the predator off her feet in the process.

Mentally smirking, Shepard angled herself to fire another missile when a warning flashed past her HUD. Spinning around and puffing out her chest, Shepard's point defence system snapped into life detonating several missiles before they could strike her and casting a plume of dust into the air.

Cursing herself, Shepard pounced through the smoke. Body glowing and thruster roaring as she sought to close the gap between her and that pesky Weapons Specialist who was still in the fight.

Roaring in defiance, the dirt covered Indominus fired his laser and auto cannons at the biotic Indominus as she approached. Earning himself the satisfying glow of a kinetic barrier being hammered by bullet shells and armoured being blackened by laser scorching.

Satisfaction turned into alarm however, and unable to dodge his charging adversary. The weapon specialist could only lean forward and brace for impact as Shepard tackled him around the chest, throwing the armoured Indominus backward with a shower of sparks and steam as kinetic barriers were overloaded by the impact.

Ceasing the initiative, Shepard slammed the offending Indominus onto his back, her foot crashing down upon the flailing predator's chest while her jaws latched onto an auto cannon and tore it from its socket. Tossing the weapon to the side, Shepard claws pinned the snapping jaws of her adversary to the ground and her own jaws moved in for the killing bite.

Only for a blast of red light to slam into Shepard side causing the biotic to roar in pain as laser bolts burnt through scale and flesh.  
Slashing her opponent across the Weapon specialist muzzle and splitting his face open, Shepard roared at the opposing Alpha who roared right back before firing her laser cannons once more. Pain ripped across Shepard's hide once more as the lasers slammed into her unprotected side, the area where the armour was virtually none existent to allow movement of the legs and arms.

Painfully forcing her biotics to recharge the Kinetic barrier, Shepard lunged forward with a snap of her jaws. Forcing Miranda to jump back to avoid jagged fangs latching onto her face, hissing in a terrifying manner. Both predators circled one another with claws twitching in agitation.

Miranda fake lunged at her adversary, spurring Shepard into lunging forward in reply and trying to bite for Miranda's throat. The enemy Alpha's claws flew up and slapped Shepard's muzzle to the side, her own jaws lunging forward to bite down upon the armoured surface of Shepard's neck. Thrashing about, Shepard managed to knock Miranda loose and take several steps back to recover from the attack.

Miranda didn't let up and charged forwards, head butting Shepard right in the chest and knocking her off her feet with a startled roar of surprise. Ceasing the advantage, Miranda planted her foot down on Shepard's chest to pin her in place.

 **"Any last words?"** snarled Miranda confidently as her jaws quivered above Shepard's vulnerable throat.

Shepard's only reply was to open her jaws and blast Miranda point blank with a biotic attack to the face. Collapsing to the side, Shepard hastily shoved the limp form off her chest and rose to her feat, eyes glaring about challengingly as both the wounded weapons specialist and Beta stood off to the side.

Snapping her gaze down towards the unconscious alpha sprawled at her feet, Shepard felt a deep instinctual urge to sink her fangs into the vulnerable throat of her adversary. To let her fangs savage into the Indominus soft flesh and end a danger to herself and her pack, the urged burned away at her mind and involuntary Shepard slammed a foot down on Miranda's chest to pin her victim to the floor.

Both Beta and Weapon Specialist alike stood stock still, eyes glaring at Shepard as they waited for the victorious Alpha to make a move.  
Miranda's life was resting in Shepard's jaws, any moment now the black Indominus could end the biotics life and easily claim leadership of both land and pack members from Miranda's territory.

Yet Shepard refrained herself from giving in to temptation, the idea of killing someone else for their power just didn't sit well with her. Instead Shepard threw her head back with a mighty roar that shook the heavens, the roar echoed into the distance.

Causing various birds and scavenging predators to turn tail and flee into the closest shelter for fear of confronting Earths dominant land predator.  
Nearby, Book practically leapt for joy as the roar split the air, signaling the end to this pointless conflict and a new air of safety for the Tech priest to roam her packs territory.

No longer will she have to be vigilant in this area of the hunting grounds, no longer will she have to hide in the shadows to avoid Miranda's scouts from spotting her. Now she would be able to hunt as she please without worry of being dragged off to be some arrogant male's toy or a tool to a venomous bitch of an Alpha.

Shepard exchanged brief words with Miranda's Beta, reminding her to fulfil her end of the bargain to send one of their pack members into Shepard's territory to join her pack. The Beta was bitter and hesitant to accept the terms of the agreement, but as acting leader for her pack while Miranda was unconscious, the scared female had no real choice in the matter.

Meanwhile, sitting on the old rusty balcony of a sky scraper, a band of scavengers lazily sat on an old decaying sofa overlooking a crater in the distance. A pair of aliens sat on the sofa clad in old dirty combat armour, there humanoid forms almost mistakable for humans if not for their 4 eyes and hairless skulls.

The aliens were known as Batarians, a race of humanoids that practiced the art of slavery in their home system and were considered the most criminal of all races in the galactic community.

At the moment, a pair of the stereotype aliens were casually lazing about on a sofa. Rolls of plant matter burning between their lips as they smoked various illegal substances for a rush.

One of the aliens noticed the commotion in the distance, slowly rising to his feet he leaned on the balcony cigarette between his lips and eyes squinted with puzzlement at the sight he was seeing.  
Either whatever he was smoking was some strong shit, or his eyes weren't betraying him and there was a bunch of bloody Indominus monsters in the distance clad in what looked like armour?

But that was impossible, Indominus were mindless beast who lacked the ingenuity and resources to construct a form of armour. The Batarian had plenty of experience running from the sinister monsters and seen plenty of his so called friends become meals for the ravenous beast.

Meaning that the stuff he was smoking was really messing with his eyes, glaring at his cigarette, the Batarian tossed the burning substance over the balcony and promptly collapsed onto the sofa once more.

* * *

 **2000 hours Earth Time.**

Night fall fell over the landscape below, and far inside the safety of Shepard's territory. Two Indominus's were huddled inside an old hidden storage facility, with dull lights flickering through the darkness.

Book was practically snarling at her Alpha as plate after plate of armour was removed from the blistering flesh of Shepard body. Book wanted to scream at her alpha for getting so hurt, yet the Indominus held her tongue and went about her job of deconstructing the combat armour.

Shepard knew Book was agitated by her wounds, they didn't have enough medical herbs to properly treat all the burn wounds and stop them getting infected. Shepard was lucky that the enemy turbo laser cannons weren't running on full power or her wounds would likely have been lethal.

The Tech Priest was just thankful that Shepard was the victorious one in the small territory skirmish they just had, if they were large wild Indominus than a simple territory skirmish could results in a bloody episode of clan wars. Something that Shepard and Book were grateful to never experience in there 70 odd years of living on Earth.

 **"Stomp twitching and hold still!"** snapped Book with a savage snarl, Shepard growled in reply, fangs clicking with agitation as Books claws pried a piece of partly melted armour from her flesh.

 **"Next time you can fight off Miranda"** muttered Shepard to herself, earning a cold murderous glare from the tech priest in reply.

Shaking her head, Book continued the task of deconstructing Shepard's armour, placing the pieces away into dry storage and out of sight.  
It took over an hour to remove Shepard's suit, and another hour to untangle Shepard's body from the combat webbing strapped to her form. Eventually Shepard was free from her armoured shell and left sprawled on her chest as Book rubbed a thick green gel between her claws.

 **"This will sting"** warned Book softly, reaching out the Tech Priest began smearing the gel across Shepard's burnt and blistered hide.

Shepard hissed and whipped her tail about in pain as the cold gel made her wounds burn with pain, then slowly the pain throbbed away to be replaced by a numbing sensation as the chemicals in the gel kicked in to numb the pain.

The Indominus side of Shepard brain wanted to lash out with tooth and claw at whatever was making her wounds hurt, instincts ate away at her and whispered in her ear to snap her jaws at the pain to make it go away.  
The human inside her was more logical than the beastly instincts, reasoning that a few minutes of pain was better than days of agony and misery from an infected wound.

Life as an Indominus rex was hard, but since when was anything relating to humanity simple?

To be continued…

* * *

 **Authors notesssss**

 **Okay so just a quick note to everyone, the picture I used for the title image of this story is how I based the appearance of the Indominus on, I don't exactly own the pic but I don't claim owner ship of it either.**

 **Secondly I want to tell you all about the amazing person who Book is based upon, Book is the OC character of a friend of mine name 'WhenBooksfly101' she has this amazing story called 'Why so blue' on this website and is an amazing friend and artist. Please go check out her story she's a brilliant writer and I just had to write her into one of my stories.**

 **Oh and the whole mech style combat and stuff I wrote is actually based on a TV series called Zoids I use to watch as a kid and the Tech Priest stuff was inspired from Warhammer 40k, I'll be posting bits of human dark matter tech on my Deviant art page which is 'RedLightningNOD608' you can find other fanfic art there from my other stories if your interested and the original take of this story.**

 **As a final note I've got a lot of works in progress, please keep in mind that I'm only one writer and cant work on all those stories at once. I appreciate your patience on this matter and hope you enjoy my works no matter how short. Chimera Effect is still going through some renovations as of late, I'm not sure when it'll be back up but you'll all know when.**

 **Take care!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sol System  
2152  
Outskirts of M15 Indominus holding facility  
2100 hours' local time  
25 years ago**

"Watch out!"

"Concentrate your fire!"

"AHHHHH!"

"MEDIC!"

The panic screams and wails of dying Turians filled the air as a mass of black scales darted through the forest, blast of glowing biotic energy ripping through the undergrowth like artillery shells decimating all in its path.

The supersonic crack of mass accelerator fire danced in the air like music, while the deafening boom of detonating high explosives ripped the air like a brutal dubstep. Sending shockwaves of compressed air tumbling through the forest destroying more vegetation in the chaos of battle.

A battle that Lieutenant Adrien Victus knew his comrades could not win as the dark plated Turian dragged the limp and bloody form of a Turian named Saren Arterius to safety. The zealous young soldier had been one of the first casualties during the monsters ambush, he and his brother had taken point to check out an unusual heat signature amongst the vegetation.

A heat signature that had practically eaten young Desolas Arterius before biting the arm of his attacking brother and throwing him aside.  
Nearby, more screaming filled the air and the sickening crunch of snapping jaws resonated through the forest. Signalling the end to another soldier's life and reminding the young Lieutenant that soon there would be no one left to stop this beast.

It was terrifying how clever this beast had been thus far, first it somehow tricked the security and medical staff back at M15 into thinking it was sedated. Then when everyone was close it managed to break free and claw out the biotic dampener imbedded in its hide, with no shackles or dampener. The terrifying beast known as an Indominus rex had blasted its way out of M15 like a siege tank. Leaving hundreds wounded or dead in its wake.

"Victus!" called out a voice snapping the Turian back to the present.

A tall blue skinned Asari with red face paint was sprinting towards him, her green camouflage armour was splattered with blue Turian blood and she was cradling a rocket launcher in her arms like a new born child.

Behind her staggering backwards with rifle blazing away, was the tall confident form of the Turian Spectre in training named Nihlus. The crimson armoured individual was brandishing his standard rifle towards the dark forest, the barrel glowing hot as it spat tiny projectiles the size of a grain of sand with the kinetic energy of a speeding car.

But these deadly projectiles were practically useless as they bounced harmlessly off a glowing bluish purple field of energy surrounding the black scaled Indominus casually strolling towards them. Cold amber red eyes glared down at the smaller aliens with murderous intent and blood soaked jaws parted to reveal the gaping abyss of the monsters throat.

With a swipe of its arm, the Indominus slapped Nihlus off his feet and into the air. Launching the young Turian flying through the air and into a tree with a sicking smack of braking armour and bone.

Giving the red Turian half a glance, the Indominus turned its head to regard the 3 helpless morsels standing in petrified fear before it. Nobody moved as the Indominus took a step forward, body glowing almost demonically as the beast recharged its kinetic barriers to fend off another attack from the outmatched aliens.

Victus had to act fast if he hand any hope to survive, dropping Sarens unconscious form, the Turian shot forward like a bullet and ripped the rocket launcher from the Asari's arms.

Flicking the weapon into firing position Victus took aim, held his breath and squeezed the trigger.

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
** **Earth  
M15 Indominus holding facility  
0700 hours' local time**

Garrus wanted to pound his head against a wall as he begrudgingly strolled down a hallway with an assault rifle clinging to his back, the young Turian prison guard was pissed. Pissed because one of his friends had messed up tending to an Indominus rex earlier that morning and lost an arm as a result.

In the few months Garrus had been at the M15 Holding Facility, he'd learnt firsthand that the Indominus rex as a species were incredibly devious beast that were masters at hurting their security personal.

What Garrus found most unsettling about working with the massive predators, was that they could actually talk in a twisted form of human English. Mind you all they would say was muttering curses and sickening insane plotting of how each predator intended to kill his or her guards. The insane rambles were one of the reasons Garrus Omni tool had been fitted with the correct translation software. Everything the beast say is to be recorded as most of that rambling can actually be a complex escape plan or murder attempt by said predator.

Shuddering as he remembered various ways an Indominus wanted to cook him for lunch, Garrus waved a clearance card across the locking mechanism of a door and stepped out into a large open room.

"Alright everyone get back, wild Indominus coming through!" bellowed a Turian loudly, his red armour splattered with dried blue blood and his white painted face looking grim and dirty from time in the field.

Garrus instantly recognised the Turian as a General Adrien Victus. The Turian was partly famous around M15 for being the best Indominus hunter on the planet, having captured more than 30 of the carnivores in their natural habitat. No small feat considering Garrus himself had been fooled on multiple occasions by the Indominus's natural camouflage abilities.

Standing near the centre of the room, the General was perched beside the large scaly form of a brown Indominus rex locked in transport shackles. The shackles themselves being comprised of a large cage with various chains used to restrain the predator inside to make transport safer for the prison guards.

At first glance, Garrus was familiar enough between the species genders to recognise the Indominus as a female. A rather small female at that with a long slender body and row of pinkish purple quills running down its neck in a decorative manner.

For a moment Garrus couldn't help but admire the pretty colours, until the female predator in question began to thrash about violently against the shackles sending a guard standing to close to the cage flying across the room with a sicking snap of breaking bone and armour.

"Medic!" someone yelled as they rushed over to the downed guard, while everyone else including Garrus drew there weapons.

With over a dozen firearms pointed in her direction, the Indominus paused in her thrashing and glared murderously at the guards. Jagged blood soaked fangs parted to let loose a sinister hissing noise while chains rattled as the females tail slashed back and forth against the restraints.

It was a display Garrus saw a few times while playing body guard for research and medical crews attending to the imprisoned predators here, generally the predator was partly sedated to make handling them a little easier. Unlike the wild female who seemed to be running at full power as she cautiously examined her restraints and pulled against every one of them in a testing manner.

The action caught Garrus off guard, but only momentarily as he and another prison guard moved forward to shove their weapons in the Indominus's face causing her to pause momentarily.

Giving the guards a loud snort of amusement, the predator went back to examining her bindings with a thoughtful look in her eye. Like she was studying the cage for faults to exploit.

"General Sir, where did you find this one?" called out Garrus, his eyes not leaving the brown scaly skull of the Indominus.

General Victus looked away from the security officer he was speaking too, eyes flashing with irritation at the interruption.

"I found her camping out back" remarked the General sarcastically, a trait uncommon for a Turian of his stature.

Garrus shook his head at the sarcasm before noticing the Indominus had fixed him with an intense stare, or rather was staring at his arm.  
Hesitantly, Garrus took a step to the side. The Indominus head turned to follow him, eyes still locked on his arm for some uncomfortable reason.

Suddenly the Turians Omni tool glowed to life with a loud buzzing sound from the micro audio projectors, confused Garrus raised his arm glaring at the device as it continued to make a ruckus of a sound.

"Your all dead"

General Victus paused in his conversation as a static filled feminine voice split the air. Turning slowly, Victus eyes zeroed in on the startled blue armoured Turian staring at his Omni tool in confusion.

"That wasn't me" stated Garrus slowly, eyes glancing to the side to see the Indominus was making a devious growling chuckle of amusement.

"Get back, she's smarter than she looks" called out Victus, hands pulling a pistol from his side as he almost ran towards the Indominus.

Garrus didn't move, his eyes were once more glued to his Omni tool as the device was flooded with raw data. Waving his device at the Indominus's head, Garrus stared up at the predator with a look of surprise on his face.

"She's got a chip in her head, some kind of cybernetic implant?" the Indominus tilted its head looking surprised at the Turians words.

Victus practically dragged Garrus away from the Indominus by the collar of his armour, the Turians pistol poised to fire the entire time earing a sinister snarl from the female as she registered the weapon.

Book was pretty confused at that moment, she'd thought it be funny to use her Tech priest skills to hack into the Turians device and project a message through it. What she didn't expect was for said Turian to use his device to virtually hack her in reply.

What stood out to her the most was what he said, there was something in her brain?  
Book narrowed her eyes in thought, mind racing with possibilities as to why she would have something electronic in her brain. Was this cybernetic the reason why she could access machines, it would explain why there was only a few Tech priest in the world if you needed an implant in your skull.

Book wondered if Shepard knew about the chip in her brain, as the pack Alpha Shepard would need to know these things if she didn't already. Speaking of Shepard, Book was surprised it was taking her so long to get here, Shepard had made it pretty clear she was going to break her out after the Turians captured her.

Looking around the place, Book turned her attention to the locking mechanism on the cage. They were digitally controlled magnetic locks, a serious design flaw that the imprisoned predator planned to exploit immediately.

"Vakarian, run a scan over the Indominus and look for any more implants" shouted one of the Turians, causing Book to look down in amusement as the same blue armoured Turian from before strolled towards her with a device in hand.

For some reason, something about that Turian made Book curious. She wasn't sure if it was the way he looked at her, or just the way he acted but something about him was different to the other Turians.

With a sigh, Garrus hesitantly climbed onto the side of the large cage with scanner in hand. Victus had ordered him to look for more cybernetic implants after his accidental discovery of the one in her brain, according to the General the implant may mean they had a biotic talented Indominus on their hands.

Balancing himself against the thick cage bars, Garrus ran the scanner up and down a meter or so from the predators hide. All the while the beast herself just stared at him with curiosity, something that Garrus knew could change in a moment's notice if she had an opportunity to hurt him.

Garrus also couldn't help but notice a detail about the Indominus he found extremely unsettling, the female had a twinkle of intelligence in her eyes he wasn't used to seeing in the predatory species.

Garrus exchanged eye contact repeatedly with the predator as he scanned every inch of her hide, until finally he was back to her skull once more carefully waving the scanner to get a reading on her brain. A loud and distinct click filled the air as the cage lock in front of the Turian disengaged, for a moment Garrus found himself staring at a very triumphant looking predator. The next second Garrus felt claws wrap around his torso like a vice and startled yelling filled the air.

Book roared in triumph, her fingers curling tightly around her prize as she forced her way out of the horrid cage and into the open. Deep down the Indominus felt a sense of satisfaction watching the small pitiful aliens run about in fear at her display of power, Book knew she was the apex predator of this planet and no alien with fancy technology could ever truly beat her on the ground.

As rifles and missile launchers were raised in preparation to fire, Book snarled savagely and held the flailing Turian close to her chest. Glaring at the armed aliens, the predator practically taunted them to fire as she held Garrus in the air and directly in harm's way.

"Hold your fire it's got Vakarian" bellowed General Victus as he slapped the barrel of someone's weapon towards the ground.

Book mentally grinned in satisfaction as her hostage tactic worked, now all she needed to do was wait for Shepard to show up and she'd be free of this dark miserable place.

A siren began to howl into the air and lights flickered across the ceiling, alarms blared away with a warning just as the very earth itself seemed to shake with the force of an explosion somewhere in the facility.

 **"That would be Shepard"** announced Book cheekily, unaware that all the Turians around her understood her words because of their translators.

Victus flinched upon hearing the name, a well-known name that the General had hoped to never hear again in his life.  
Shepard was an old inmate from M15, nearly 30 years ago she had escaped from this very facility in a wave of destruction almost unmated by any Indominus in history.

Being classed as the 3rd strongest biotic talented organism in the galaxy, Victus remembered Shepard as a cold and calculative predator who killed over 60 guards in her escape from M15. Victus himself had been on the platoon sent after the biotic to hunt her down with lethal force, only 4 people out of an entire platoon made it back to base and Shepard all but disappeared from the face of the planet.

"EVERYONE GET BACK!" bellowed Victus.

The large blast doors leading into the room flew open in an explosion of blue energy that shook the air like thunder, smoke steamed from the jagged opening ripped into the room and prison guards turned their weapons to face the new danger.

A large black scaled foot stomped through the cloud of smoke, accompanied by a long fang filled jaws and burning amber red eyes that glowed in a demonic manner.

"Hold your fire!" shouted Victus, throwing his arms up in front of his men to prevent them discharging their weapons.

 **"Smart bird"** sneered Shepard as she strolled into the room, her scaly hide glowing with a protective shield of biotic energy.

Strolling right up to Book, the large Alpha female sniffed Books face before glancing down at the hostage in her hands.  
Grumbling in amusement, Shepard turned her head to regard the Turians in the room with a murderous gaze.

 **"You honestly got caught by these birds?"** growled Shepard casting Book a disappointed scowl, Book garbled in reply looking annoyed.

 **"I'm not a biotic like you** **they got me with a sleeping dart"** garbled Book in embarrassment, Shepard shook her head before placing herself between Book and the Turians.

 **"I know you can understand me Turians, I'll only say this once"** Shepard bared her fangs menacingly **"If you try to follow us, I will eat you"**

With those words, Shepard nudged Book with her nose towards the exit she secured. Complying too her Alpha's demand, Book strolled casually out of the room with the defeated form of Garrus hanging limply in her claws like a teddy bear.

 **"Oh and Victus, good to see you"** remarked Shepard as she paused in the door way, eye glancing over her shoulder at the elderly Turian before she disappeared down the tunnel.

A moment passed when nothing happened, then with a furious roar Victus threw his pistol across the room and ordered his men to get to the battlements.

Fuming in silent frustration, General Victus rushed down a hallway towards the command centre of the facility. He needed to make a few calls immediately to high command on Palavan.

 **1100 hours local time  
**  
 **  
"** **Sooo a hostage or pet?"** remarked Shepard casually as she thundered along through the forest undergrowth, behind her Book was hot on her tail with her precious cargo in hand.

Book looked a little embarrassed by the casual remark from her Alpha, claws tightening around Garrus's armoured chest causing his hard shell like suit to creek and groan beneath the intense pressure of her claws.

 **"Shepard I don't know anything about owning a pet, and he's got some piece of technology that can find the implants in my head"** informed Book with a huff, causing Shepard to glance over her shoulder briefly.

 **"Implants? We'll discuss that later turn here"** instructed Shepard, her massive hide suddenly lurching to the right and beneath the giant husk of a fallen tree that was bigger than a 3 story building.

Book swerved after her companion, feet pounding the earth violently with each step and propelling her to speeds of almost 30mph.

Poor Garrus clutched to Books claws with a death grip, eyes wide with fear as he dangled helplessly in the air by a ferocious predator that was incredibly fast for a beast of her size. The Turian wasn't sure which was more terrifying, being held in the air by a massive predator, or being in the claws of a 5 tonne monster moving at a sufficient velocity to crush him if she tripped.

 **"Get ready to jump"** announced Shepard from the front of the group, making Garrus's stomach lurch with fear.

Charging through the forest, the vegetation gave way to gaping crack in the earth several meters wide. More than sufficient enough to swallow an Indominus whole if one wasn't careful.

A pulse of blue energy shot from Shepard's tail and into her trailing companion, resulting in both apex predators glowing brightly as their molecular mass was reduced to a fraction of its original weight. Garrus himself felt a wave of weightlessness wash over him, his claws grapping hard scales as Book pounced like a Varren into the air and sailed across the crack in the earth with ease.

Landing with a harsh jolt, the biotic energy dissipated as quickly as it appeared and Garrus felt his insides drop as gravity took hold once more. The young Turian hated the sensation of biotics being used against him, he found it a sicking and unnatural sensation to endure.

Stopping momentarily, both giant predators turned their heads to gaze back at the crack in the earth behind them. Both green and amber red eyes scanned the vegetation around them, muscles tense and tails lashing at the air in an agitated manner that didn't escape the young Turians attention.

"What's wrong?" Garrus called out, causing both Indominus's to jump slightly in surprise.

Shepard glared down at the Turian for startling her, but she supposed it was as good idea to warn the stupid alien to be quiet in enemy territory.

 **"Were trespassing in another packs territory, we got to move fast and quietly"** growled Shepard, bringing her muzzle a mere meter away from the Turians face.

For a moment Garrus was confused, what did Shepard mean they were trespassing on someone's territory, whose territory was this to begin with?  
Then Garrus noticed the word pack was used in Shepard's sentence, pack being the general term used to describe a group of Varren or other land predators.

 **"I bet you figured it out by now, us humans are pack creatures, now be silent"** hissed Shepard harshly, puffing a blast of putrid breath in Garrus's face that made him want to gag from the stench of rotting meat.

Book remained silent, eyes staring down at the Turian nestled between her claws with a neutral expression. The Indominus was started to get a little hungry from all the running they were doing, instincts urged her to find something to eat and she conveniently had a little snack in her claws just ripe for the taking.

But Book didn't want to eat the Turian, she wanted the alien to scan her for more implants so she knew just what was inside her body. Staring at the small Turian, Books unconsciously began to salivate and her stomach growled loudly demanding food.

Thankfully for Garrus, Shepard noticed the hungry stare her companion was giving their hostage and decided to intervene.

 **"Book, toss the bird head onto my back"** ordered Shepard sternly.

Instantly Book hugged the small Turian against her chest in a possessive manner, an aggressive growl flew between the Tech priest fangs as she glared at Shepard for daring to try take away her new play thing. Shepard only rolled her eyes at Books' instinctive reaction to the situation, all Indominus's were possessive of their belongings. And apparently Book had claimed the Turian as hers.

 **"Book we don't have time for this, you'll need both tooth and claw to defend yourself if were discovered"** Book stopped snarling and snapped her head to the side for a moment, eyes staring into oblivion before hesitantly she approached her Alpha.

Gentle placing Garrus on Shepard's back, the Turian quickly discovered an Indominus's hide is a lot harder than it appears and very uncomfortable. Hands grasping the spiky armour covering the beast back, Garrus didn't get a word of warning as the massive predator strolled forwards and nearly dislodge him from his spot.

Feeling the Turian almost fall from her back, Shepard snarled at Garrus to hold on while she cautiously shoved her massive frame through the light vegetation of the forest undergrowth.

Book trailed along behind her, head snapping left and right as she looked about for any signs of other Indominus rexes lurking in the vicinity.  
For a while nothing happened as the two apex predators and their alien hostage strolled through enemy territory, occasionally the group would stop to check the path behind them for pursuers.

Garrus felt a little disheartened when no squad of M15 guards came flying out of the undergrowth to rescue him, the others probably thought him to be dead by now. Likely eaten by his unusually smart captors who were displaying an intelligence never before recorded in an Indominus rex.

It was a little concerning how smart these predators were compared to the M15 inmates, there was an awareness in their movements. Reptilian eyes looked around the forest not with cold savagery but cold calculative logic and perception.

Sitting on the Shepard's back, the small Turian found himself staring across the black hide. Eyes taking in the scars that covered the scaly armoured surface, Garrus was reminded of just how old these creatures were. There was the chance that both Shepard and Book had witnessed the Dark Matter War first hand, it was possible that these two predators were just humble civilians once upon a time that suffered the same fate as the rest of the human species.

 **"You looked troubled Gahrus"** said Book suddenly, her brown scaly muzzle rising up beside him without warning and fixing him with her forest green eyes.

"Its Garrus" grumbled the Turian in reply, Book seemed to literary chew on the name for a moment before shaking her head.

 **"You're troubled what's wrong…. Apart from being well kidnapped by us"** added Book a little meekly shocking Garrus even more.

Since when did an Indominus rex sound meek?

Garrus carefully thought out his next works, mind formulating a plan of attack to address the questions swirling away in his brain.

"Why are you so, different from the Indominus's in M15?" asked Garrus slowly, causing Shepard to stop abruptly and almost throw the Turian from her back in the process.

Shepard turned her head, eye glaring over her shoulder at the Turian while Book look a little uneasy as she considered how best to reply to that question.

 **"Were kind of special Gahrus"** Book said with a shrug of her shoulders, or the closest equivalent of a shrug a predator like herself could muster.

"Special?" asked Garrus, looking between both predators in confusion.

 **"Were wild Indominus kid, your definition of normal is irrelevant when applied to us"** stated Shepard bluntly as she looked away and resumed walking.

"I'm not a kid" muttered Garrus in reply.

Garrus wants sure how to process this new information, were these Indominus just an anomaly the General accidently discovered. Or where there more smart Indominus with enough control of their instincts to not kill everything on sight, if so where were they hiding, and what should his people do about it?

 **"I'm over a century old kid, by Indominus standards your still child"** announced Shepard confidently as she walked under a massive log the size of a small building.

"I'm not a kid" said Garrus again, earning an almost childish giggle from the brown Indominus behind him.

 **"And I'm 9 tonnes of predatory awesomeness, your argument is invalid"** said Shepard smugly, this time Book burst out with gleeful laughter.

Garrus looked like a flustered Turian as he sat there on Shepard's back, right up until something pounced onto a large bolder ahead of them with a savage war cry that chilled the Garrus to his bones.

Snarling savagely on top of the bolder stood a strange fur covered theropod like creature, but unlike the massive form of Shepard and Book. This creature was just a little larger than a Krogan, with a large sickle claw adoring both feet and long talon tipped hands that looked as deadly as a combat knife.

The beast head was adorned with a pair of pointed ears that were pressed tightly against its skull as black lips pulled back to reveal sickly yellow fangs as large as a Turians thumb.

Whatever this creature was, it made both apex predators pause in hesitation and alarm. Sensing danger on the air, Garrus drew the assault rifle from his back which until that point had been practically useless to him. Such a low calibre weapon was only good for distracting a predator as large as an Indominus, but against a creature roughly Krogan size the weapon may still have its uses.

 **"Viper raptors…. I hope you can fight kid things are about to get ugly"** growled Shepard through partly opened jaws.

Book let out a menacing hiss at the beast ahead of them and Garrus noticed more of the fur covered predators emerge from the shadows to surround them on all sides.

* * *

 **Elsewhere….  
M15 Indominus holding facility  
Communication room**

"Are you sure it was her Victus?" growled the holographic form of Council Spectre Nihlus Kryik, the renowned and deadly Turian agent who built his career on completing the most suicidal of missions seemed to glare through the holograph at the elderly General sitting in the room.

Sighing softly and dropping a data pad from his claws, General Victus turned his head to regard his agitated companion with a tired, yet calm manner as he spoke to him.

"She remembered my name Nihlus, it was her alright… no other Indominus can blast a hole through a 3 meter wall with a single attack" said Victus slowly, his eyes glancing to the side at the data pad displaying a damage report of M15.

Shepard hadn't been playing around when she broke into the fortified prison, the predator literary carved a path straight into the facility and right into the room he was keeping the brown Indominus female being designated as 'Asset 00' by the facilities commander.

Nihlus gave Victus a troubled look, like one being told of something shockingly disturbing for the first time. Victus couldn't blame the Spectre, it was a long time ago but the scars Shepard inflicted that one night would stay with both Turians for the duration of their life, both physically and mentally.

"You and I both know what this means" said Nihlus cautiously.

Victus raised a glass to his mandibles in reply, slowly tipping the cups blue contents down his throat to sooth his nerves. Lowering the glass, Victus mandibles twitched with agitation.

"I don't care about the Councils kill capture orders for her, I'm going after Shepard…. I need answers" said Victus slowly, Nihlus jaw fell open in disbelief at what he was hearing.

"She'll eat you on sight Victus, no matter what you think an Indominus rex is a predator, a predator that have a taste for Turian flesh" reminded Nihlus, his holographic form pointing a claw in Victus direction.

"You mean like how she ate us nearly 30 years ago?" retorted Victus sharply, causing the Spectre to freeze on the spot.

A moment of silence passed between both Turians which was only silenced when Victus rose from his chair.

"You were wounded at the time, but she spoke to us Nihlus that night. For a moment she wasn't an Indominus rex but a scared and confused human looking for comfort" Victus exclaimed loudly, making sure the Spectre heard every word.

"When she left that night, when she spared our lives. Shepard was crying, Nihlus just how many humans like her were turned into Indominus rexes?" questioned Victus.

Standing there stoically, Nihlus didn't hesitate to reply to a well-known fact amongst anyone working at a holding facility.

"3 Billion"

"That's 3 billion humans just waiting to wake up Nihlus, I'm not sure if you ever remember the history classes but humanity and its military were hero's before the Dark matter war" Victus stated as he walked towards a large glass window overlooking the vast expanse that was M15.

"And I bet if given the chance, humanity and Indominus alike could be hero's once more" stated Victus as he leaned against the wall beside the window, his eyes staring past the cold walls and towards the dark deadly forest surrounding the infamous prison.

Ever since that night when Shepard nearly killed him, Victus had spent part of his life researching the Indominus species and humanity alike. He'd learnt early on that humanity were as vicious as krogan, as disciplined as the Turian and more cunning than the Salarians.

During the dark matter war, humanity was only just over 8 billion in total across the galaxy and had a few hundred warships against a galaxy of over a hundred thousand vessels. Yet the human Alliance, Humanities military arm had held the Council races back for over 5 long and bloody years before crumbling into ruin, leaving nothing of value in its wake.

The Turian Hierarchy, the mightiest military in the galaxy. Had been virtually brought to a deadlock with a race of primitives who were still using sticks and stones to fight when the Turians achieved space flight, yet here was a race that had challenged the galaxy and shown the Council fear the likes of which had not been seen since the Krogan rebellion.

Victus couldn't help but wonder what if Humanity hadn't been crushed and imprisoned like they were today, he wondered about the possibility of bringing humanities wisdom of warfare and technology back into the universe on a different footing. One where people wouldn't react in fear but in hope.

Despite the peace between galactic powers of the galaxy, the universe was still one bristling with crime and despair. The lawless Terminus system was still its own private warzone of criminals while Batarian slavers still pillages colonies of both people and technology and the Council was helpless to act without sparking a war with the Terminus system.

Unless Victus could bring humanity back into the picture, Victus had research how the Alliance had responded to Batarian and pirate raids when they first began settling colonies.

The Alliance was so brutal in its defence and retaliation strikes. That for several years some of the safest planets in the galaxy were those with a human patrol fleet in the system or a garrison of troops nestled near the colonies.

Victus wished his own people could bring such fear into the criminal organisations leaching off the Council races, the problem was Human methods were messy and seen as barbaric in some manner, a manner that any honourable Turian would shake his head at in person.

The Generals thoughts were interrupted as the Spectres voice once more punctured the air like a knife, bringing Victus back to the world of reality and the present.

"How do you intend to find her, she disappeared for several decades and she'll no doubt do so again" questioned Nihlus bluntly.

"There a Salarian scientist at M12 who's conducting a special behavioural research project with the inmates, he has a peculiar friend who may be able to track Shepard down" informed Victus as he turned around to face the Spectre once more.

"His name is Mordin Solus, and his peculiar friend just happens to be this planets apex land predator"

To be continued…..

* * *

 **Authors Note...sss?**

 **First off thanks to all the people who faved and followed the story thus far, I do hope your enjoying the story and its contents and I hope you enjoy the chapters to come.**

 **Secondly I got to give special thanks to my Friend 'WhenBooksFly101' who is the proud owner of Book who I'm using in this story, she is a brilliant artist and you should really check out her works on here and on her Deviant art page she's really good!**

 **Now to the people making sure I don't # this story up, thank you Ghostleader119 for being my current Beta for this story. Its thanks to this guy that my story isn't full of typos and I don't care what anyone says I'll spell Colour Armour etc the Australian way! I also want to thank the FluffyDwagy for brainstorming some ideas with me the last few days I gotten a few ideas from him and refined aspects of the story.**

 **I do hope people are enjoying this story! If for some reason your reviews wont post on this story, please just PM to me some reason this story didn't reset when I changed the story contents *shrugs***

 **Onto a different matter, I've had a few people PM me about issue with size so far and weight not being to spec, my reason for that being is no two Indominus are the same. Like people each Indominus will be different weight and size according to diet and growth, so don't follow the charts too much as some of the characters are even larger than Shepard and she bigger than a T-rex. Also I made the Indominus slightly longer in my stories to allow them to stand upright in a more humanlike manner at times etc etc..**

 **Specs:**

 **Book**  
 **Length: 41 feet long**  
 **Height: 12 feet at the hip**  
 **Weight: 8.7 tonnes**

 **Shepard**  
 **Length: 53 feet long**  
 **Height: 15 feet at the hip**  
 **Weight: 9 tonnes**

 **Miranda**  
 **Length: 49 feet long**  
 **Height: 15 feet at the hip**  
 **Weight: 8.8 tonnes**

 **And quick note on Viper Raptors, they are practically wolves that have been mutated to resemble a velociraptor in some manner... Enjoy the story!**

 **Take care everyone**


	3. Chapter 3

**Terminus system  
2163  
Unknown colony world  
1700 hours**

The tall white armoured form of the Salarian scientist known as Mordin Solus stumbled slightly as he strolled through a dark forest of blackened wood, armed with a single large calibre pistol, the Salarian was poorly equipped for the high risk operation he was about to undertake.

Mordins orders were simple, locate the suspected Indominus rex lurking upon this planet and neutralise it covertly without raising alarm amongst the local colonist. The people Mordin was working for wanted this incident to be kept quiet, as the Council had claimed decades ago that all Indominus rexes were relocated back to their home planet Earth.

A statement often proven wrong out in the lawless Terminus system with its countless unexplored worlds, where the massive super predators somehow managed to hide undetected for decades at a time.

The Salarian operative was fairly sure that he heard stories of a Mercenary gang working for the Shadow Broker even had a trained Indominus rex they used for operations. From what Mordin knew this gang was only called the 'Crimson hunters' and that they never left any trace of their presence or witnesses.

However those mercenaries were not what Mordin was concerned about, he was more worried about the large 3 toed foot print he just tripped in while walking not a few km's from the nearest settlement.  
The markings were as large as Morden entire torso, with the imprints carved deep into the soil from the owner's massive weight while looking at the canopy above the Salarian could see snapped branches from the Indominus tall form knocking them aside.

"Not good" muttered Mordin, his large eye swivelling around inside his skull before following the clear trail into a section of the forest with a much thicker screen of vegetation.

Activating a specialized sensory module built into his armour, Mordin's eyes glanced down at the glowing form of his Omni tool as the motion sensor screen lit up like a submarines sonar display.

Currently, the sensor array wasn't picking up anything moving in the area. But Mordin knew all that could change in a heartbeat when dealing with a 9 tonne predator that preferred ambush tactics to capture its prey.

Clutching his pistol tightly in both hands, Mordin continued to follow the predator's foot prints as they journeyed endlessly through the confines of the forest. The trail was relatively easy for the Salarian to follow as the predators own mass had apparently carve a trail through the undergrowth.

Something about this put Mordin on edge, sure he done some research before conducting this assignment but several facts weren't adding up.  
People had gone missing in this forest for decades at a time, and in that time there had never been any indication that an Indominus was the culprit until just recently.

Meaning something had forced the Indominus to approach the colony settlement in the region and expose itself, but for what reason?

The Salarian's line of thought was interrupted as the trail suddenly broke into a large clearing decorated with the twisted and rusty remains of what appeared to be an old Hierarchy military freighter? Intrigued, Mordin slowly stepped into the clearing, pistol poised to fire at the first hint of danger.

Drawing closer to the rusty space ship, Mordin began to notice the abundance of footprints scattered across the area and various paths carved into the forest leading away from the vessel.

Mordin theorised that this was either the Indominus's lair, or some kind of navigation hub the predator used to traverse the region and access resources.  
Moving closer, the Salarians eyes spotted a large cluster of old armour and decaying corpses placed almost decoratively near the side of the Hierarchy vessel.

At the centre of this garden of death, was a large opening in the side of the vessel with a well-worn path weaving through the bodies. At that moment Mordin knew he'd just discovered the predator's liar, which meant the predator itself was likely somewhere within the region.

In the back of his mind, a thought gnawed away at the Salarians mind. Eating its way to the centre of attention and giving the alien pause as his weapon slowly pointed towards the ground.

"It didn't eat the bodies?" he observed in confusion.

Indominus were well known for their gluttonous appetites and ability to digest armour and flesh with ease, so why was there a graveyard of untouched corpses laying around an Indominus's liar?

Mordin's motion sensory pinged loudly in warning and the Salarains weapon shot upright just as something burst from the darkness of the freighter with a savage roar that made the ground itself tremble in fear.

Pale white scales laced with grey patches and smeared with various shades of blood gleamed dully in the sunlight, twisted jaws lined with broken and jagged fangs parted to inhale breath and hazel eyes glared down at the lone Salarian with anger and hatred.

With a snarl the Indominus stomped forwards, its jaws parting to bellow in a language long forgotten by the Council races. The translator module however in Mordin's armour sprung to life and began converting the monsters sounds into a language he would understand.

 **"Warrior!"** bellowed the monster as it slashed its tail across the ground throwing a cloud of dust into the air.

Mordin aimed his pistol at the predators skull, arms trembling as the beast towered above him with rage.

 **"Fight Me!"** snapped the monster, its blood smeared skull lunging towards him with jaws wide to devour him whole.

The Salarian jumped to the side, dodging the deadly fangs and raising his pistol to fire upon the beast head. But his tremble hands never pulled the trigger.

 **"** **Shoot me!"** howled the Indominus with a snap of its jaws and flick of the tail.

 **"Stab me hurt me!"** the predator demanded as it used its clawed hands to throw dirt all over the cowering Salarian.

But Mordin didn't move to retaliate. Something about the beast movements and the way it decorated itself in blood was out of place, the predators movement was sluggish and withdrawn, like it way toying with him?

Indominus's were characterised by their sheer power and agility, yet this individual was holding itself back. As if it way trying to taunt him into attacking, but why, why did it want him to attack and why the war paint.

Mordins lack of retaliation seemed to confuse the giant predator into a stunned stupor, as for several long minutes the Indominus stood there glaring at him in silence until it slumped to the ground lying flat on its chest.

 **"No?"** the predator sounded bewildered.

 **"Why do you not face me?"** the Indominus growled, its head tilted to the side in a quizzical manner while its claws grasped at the soil in agitation.

"I… Don't know if I should" replied Mordin slowly, his pistol falling to his side to point at the ground.

 **"Of course you should, I am a monster you are a white warrior"** growled the Indominus confidently as its jaws snapped at the air in Mordins direction.

"You call me a white warrior… what does it mean?" asked Mordin cautiously.

 **"You are a warrior in white armour, you colour represents purity and your weapon your intentions to fight and slay the monster, to kill me"** stated the predator bluntly in annoyance.

"Not a warrior. A scientist. Help people sometimes with medicine sometimes with bullets" muttered Mordin in uncertainty, none of Mordins research notes had hinted that his target would be this intelligent.

Instead of the bloodthirsty monster the Indominus was rumoured to be, here Mordin was still alive having a relatively civil conversation with one of the galaxies most feared predators. Killing a mindless monster was one thing, but killing a sentient individual just didn't seem right. Especially if all that individual did was be creature that people feared.

 **"Ahhhhh I see your problem. You don't know if you should be helping me or killing me"** mused the Indominus in a calm collective manner.

"Something like that" muttered Mordin uneasily, being this close to such a large predator was unsettling, especially being around one as observant as this one.

 **"You think that killing me will make you a warrior, someone who kills others. But you desire to be a man of medicine to help people"** rumbled the Indominus as it gave a nod of the head and stared at Mordin expectantly, when no reply came straight away the Indominus continued her speech.

 **"At the end of the day I will be a monster, I will be a monster whether we fight or don't fight. But at the end of the day we choose who we are not by our titles but by our actions"** the Indominus had by now lost her aggressive tone and was sounding more human in dialogue, with a softer caring voice sometimes slipping between those savage fangs only to be drowned out by the occasional growl.

"How are you so sure you're a monster anyway?" Mordin stared at the Indominus expectantly.

Slowly the Indominus lowered its head to eye level with him, those orbs of hazel softening slightly as those killer jaws parted one last time.

 **"Because I decided to be one"**

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
** **Earth  
Regional rain forest  
1200 hours local time  
**

Garrus groaned softly in pain, his hand hovering inches above the right side of his face where a layer of pale dark blue blood oozed softly from his most recent wound.

 **"Does it hurt?"** questioned the brown scaly form of Book nearby with a hint of worry in her voice.

"It's just a scratch" muttered the Turian in reply, his eyes looking around the region at the dozen or so corpses littering the area.

The Viper Raptors were savage predators Garrus would give them that much, fast and agile the Turian quickly learnt that ambush tactics were also favoured by Earths smaller predators as well as the apex predators. He also learnt that Viper raptors weren't afraid to attack a creature over 5 times their size, and that according to Shepard a large pack of the creatures could actually take down a lone Indominus if they're not careful.

Hefting his steaming hot assault rifle into the air, he held it across his back where the weapon compressed itself into a small box before latching itself to micro magnetic locks on his armour.

Nearby, Shepard stood poised over one of the viper corpses, blood staining her fangs as she ate the flesh of her fallen foe. Garrus glanced at her briefly, his eyes taking in the kriss cross of fresh claw marks covering her black scaly hide.

Slowly his eyes wondered back to Book, who was occupying herself by pulling apart a Viper raptor limb from limb and devouring it casually in slightly sickening manner. However Garrus eyes picked up a window of opportunity, both his captors were preoccupied with their meals to really give him much attention.

Right now was the perfect opportunity to escape, but Garrus had no clue the lay out of the surrounding land nor did he have any training for surviving Earths hostile ecosystems. Unfortunately for the young Turian, his best bet was to remain with his captors until he could get a bearing on his location and proceed from there.

A wet slap sound filled the air and Garrus nearly jumped off his feet as an entire Viper raptor corpse crashed onto the ground beside him with warm red blood oozing from the puncture wounds across its frame.

Above him, Book stared down at Garrus expectantly, blood dripping from her jaws in a monstrous manner that made Garrus want to draw his rifle once more.

 **"It's your kill, aren't you going to eat it?"** questioned Book almost innocently with a tilt of the head, the quills on her head perked up slightly as she spoke making her look a little taller in the process.

Shaking off the shock of having a corpse almost dropped on his head, Garrus took one look at the dead animal at his feet and instantly knew he had a problem.

"I can't eat it" he said simple, at the same time his foot kicked the corpse in the side making the muscle and flesh wobble slightly.

 **"Your race are predators like us, why can't you eat meat?"** questioned Book in confusion, her eyes narrowing slightly as she lowered herself onto her haunches making herself appear less imposing to speak too. **  
** **  
"He means he can't eat out food Book, his species evolved to eat specific types of creature with a different acid or something"** chimed in Shepard, her voice loud and powerful as she strolled towards them in a calm collective manner.

 **"Acid, acid burns stuff"** said Book in bewilderment, eyes glancing at Garrus with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief.

"It's complicated" muttered Garrus, having the distinct feeling the Indominus wouldn't understand the difference between amino-acid and livo-acid based organism.

Book snorted loudly, shaking her head slightly while her quills quivered slightly as she made a funny noise that Garrus could only just hear.

 **"Why do prey always complicate things"** muttered Book as she lowered her jaws and grasped the Viper raptor between her fangs.

Ignoring what Garrus assumed to be an insult, the Turian instead turned his attention to his throbbing face where a Viper raptor had raked its claws across his flesh. Shepard took notice of the new wounds decorating her hostages face and lowered her head to better examine him.

Garrus tried not to shy away from the large bloody jaws as they loomed closer to his face, with large teeth the size of daggers just a few feet away. The young Turian found himself contemplating his own stupidity for ever enlisting for service at a holding facility on Earth. Maybe a career as an officer in C-sec would have been a better alternative than this.

 **"Hmmm your lucky kid those are shallow, we might have something back home that may help it heal but no promises"** huffed Shepard almost dully as she pulled her colossal head away, letting the Turian breath a silent sigh of relief.  
 **  
**"And how would an Indominus possibly have medical supplies for a Turian?" questioned Garrus, gazing up at the colossal predator the Turian witness something he hadn't expected.

Shepard took one look at him, rolled her eyes in a human gesture of annoyance before giving him the Indominus version of a shrug. Another human like gesture used by a few species across the galaxy to emphasise 'I don't know' in a conversation.

"That wasn't an answer" said Garrus crossing his arms over his chest, Shepard snarled at him in reply before looking at the sky briefly.

 **"We're wasting time, we got 6 hours of daylight left and it'll take 5 hours to reach my territory… I'd rather not travel in enemy territory at night"** stated Shepard loudly before reaching out a hand palm up and claws fully extended towards the lone Turian.

Garrus looked at the blood covered appendage then turned his head so he was looking right at Shepard. The Indominus growled deeply inside her throat, the noise vibrating the air in a sign of warning for Garrus to not test her patience.

Shaking his head, the young Turian clambered onto the outstretched palm in an awkward manner and held on for dear life as Shepard rose to her full height of over 15 feet at the hip alone. Clinging to her thick muscular arm for stability, the massive predator began to walk towards Book where Shepard un-ceremonially dropped Garrus on the brown Indominus' armoured back before turning her tail to them and strolling towards the dark confines of the forest once more.

Before she entered the forest however, Shepard paused and snatched up a viper raptors corpse from the ground in her claws. Without a word, Book did the same thing as the other predator and almost silently strolled after Shepard who almost vanished like a ghost into the forest.

Keeping his mouth shut and eyes looking around for danger, Garrus shifted about into a comfortable position and braced himself for the long journey ahead of them.

For several hours of long boring silence, Garrus sat upon the massive predators' hide while Shepard navigated the terrain. They passed many unusual displays of nature along their journey, from giant blooming flowers the size of an air cab, to massive trees as thick as a house that towered for over 100 meters into the sky and casting darkness upon the earth below.

Be it either land or water, Shepard pushed on ahead using her powerful biotic abilities to overcome the tallest of obstacles and most dangerous of landscapes. At one stage Garrus was even riding upon Books head much to her irritation as both predators casually swam across a small body of water. Unknown to both predators at the time, Turians had evolved on a very dry desert like landscape and hadn't evolved means of buoyancy in water, in other words Turians drop like a brick in water and have very limited swimming abilities.

By the time the sun was low in the sky, casting long shadows and colouring the world above with a montage of orange and purple colour. The trio of travellers slowly entered the haunting ruins a small city with its towering buildings looming in the sky above, an old testimony and reminder of the world before Indominus ruled the landscape.

 **"Over one hundred thousand humans used to live here before the war"** commented Shepard breaking the long chilling silence that had lingered the past few hours.

 **"Now it's a ghost town"** Shepard glanced over her shoulder as she spoke, eyes glaring at Garrus almost accusingly for a moment as the massive predator paused in her stride to sniff at the air.

Garrus took a moment to truly examine the city around him, his eyes taking in the old rusty metal and concrete walls overgrown with moss and vegetation.  
The tall buildings had a dark depressing atmosphere about them that chill the Turian to the bone, this place felt like a graveyard. A graveyard Garrus realised his people had been instrumental in creating.

Slowly, the Turian found his voice and his next words cut the air like a gunshot, causing both predators to pause mid stride and stared at him with murderous fury.

"How do you know the population of this city?" was the simple and honest question that rolled off his tongue.

Shepard glared at him, fangs parting with a savage beastly hiss that reminded Garrus of super-heated metal being rapidly cooled by water.

 **"When I was more human in appearance, I use to visit this city I think… maybe I was born here I'll never know, but I have memories of this place"** spoke Shepard softly, her eyes losing the murderous glare and turning into one of sadness as she her gaze was turned to the surrounding landscape.

 **"You see kid, a century is a long time to be alive…. Over the years we've tended to….."** began Shepard before slowly trailing off, the quills on her head and neck drooping limply making her look sad and depressed.

 **"We've lost most of our memories"** finished Book softly, her green eyes glancing back at Garrus briefly before a rumble in the distance drew everyone's attention.

Garrus heard the noise too, and the sound made his heart skip a beat as he heard the tell tail thunderous roar of an Indominus rex somewhere in the distance. The Turian had heard enough roars up close and person to know that this particular roar, wasn't a roar of happiness or joy but of furious rage.

And judging by the direction of the roar, Garrus could only assume that one of these other packs of Intelligent Indominus rexes had just discovered their scent and were now pursuing them with the intent to kill.  
The Turian's thoughts were confirmed as Book shared one startled look with a now stern face Shepard before charging down the street at full speed.

All Garrus could do, was hold on for dear life and hope he didn't fall off as both predators stormed down the street at top speed, there powerful legs pounding the earth like a battering ram and knocking aside the husk of old vehicles from their path.

 **"Close rank Book were taking a short cut"** announced Shepard loudly as she stormed down the street, her body becoming enveloped in the purplish blue glow of biotic energy.

With a flick of her head, the black scaled Indominus launched an orb of gravitational devastation down range like a cannon shell. The orb shot through the air, striking a tall concrete wall with an explosion of dust and debris creating a large opening in the wall that even a creature as large as Shepard could squeeze through without a hassle.

Book saw the destruction ahead of them and realigned her path from flanking Shepard's left to stomping along directly behind her. Garrus however was left speechless at the raw destructive he just witnessed.

What Shepard just did would normally take 3-4 biotically talented individuals to achieve, yet she just conjured such raw power with a simple flick of her jaws as if it was nothing. Garrus could only image what Shepard could do with her biotics in combat, the thought made him shiver in fear.

Charging through the opening Shepard had made, Garrus was taken aback by the sight of an entire street being completely gone and instead replaced by a large river of gently running water.

 **"There's the territory marker!"** Exclaimed Book as she ran, her head pointed to the side slightly where what looked like an Indominus skull sat impaled on a pole of metal rising into the air.

 **"And there's the bridge…"** added Shepard dully, looking in the opposite direction to her companion where a building had apparently topped over making a bridge across the river in the process.

"That bridge doesn't look to stable" commented Garrus loudly, only for his words to be simply ignored by both predators as they hastily stomped towards said bridge.

Cautiously, Shepard and Book began navigating a small path between large boulders of metal and concrete to access the upper surface of the bridge. The climb was unnerving for the young Turian, especially given the chance that if this bridge collapsed or he fell off he would definitely drown in the water below.

Shakily, both Indominus's reached the upper surface of the building and began the slow cautious task of navigating the crumbling structure.  
The concrete crackled beneath Books feat and the structure itself seemed to tremble with each step as the combined mass of two 9 tonne predators pressed down upon the 100 year old structure that had endured a century of water corrosion until now.

 **"Book you go first, you're smaller than me and the bridge won't hold under both our weight"** growled Shepard softly, slowly shifting to the side to allow the brown scaled predator to pass her.

"This is a bad idea" muttered Garrus.

 **"Eh we're only human we're full of bad ideas"** Book glanced back at him with a shrug of the shoulders before taking a tentative step forward and onto the crumbling old bridge.

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
** **Earth  
M12 Indominus holding facility  
1800 hours local time**

Daell was a relatively young member of her species being only in her maiden years of around 100 or more, with her soft blue skin and humanoid frame. Her species the Asari were considerably similar to a female human in appearance with the only difference being skin tone and the scaly like crest covering the Asari scalp.

Daell however was an exception to her species, standing in an elevator clad in camouflage green heavy grade combat armour. The young maiden was far more muscular in appearance compared to other members of her kind, Daell was also different in that her biotic abilities were relatively poor considering her profession as a trained commando operative.

You see, Asari were natural biotics due to evolving an element zero rich planet, the mineral itself is the principle of mass effect technology and the only know substance to grant a biological organism the power to manipulate gravity to their will.

Daell on the other hand, could barely lift a cup with her biotic abilities, let alone conjure a biotic barrier to protect herself. This is why she wore heavy armour integrated with the best shielding technology one could get their hands on in the Sol system.

How could she get her hands on such high grade equipment? The answer stood in the form of General Adrien Victus. Like the General, Daell's face was decorated in an artistic colour of red paint that distinguished herself from others in the community, however unlike the General, her paint held only cosmetic value while Victus face paint held cultural importance.

Currently both warriors stood silently in an elevator, faces stern and bodies rigid with the professional military demeanours that was expected of them.  
There was a feeling of tension in the air as the elevator slowly descended into the lower levels of M12, an Indominus holding facility where some seriously dangerous individuals were contained. All of whom were competitors in biotic power to the black demoness Shepard herself.

It was because of Shepard that the General was drawn to this facility, it was why they were in this elevator being dropped into a secure section of the facility where a behavioural study was being conducted on one of the M12's more unusual inmates.

"Remember when we walk into the room, keep your shotgun holstered Lieutenant" remarked Victus dully as he stood with both hands poised behind his back.

"Yes sir, but may I ask why?" questioned Daell in confusion, the General only glanced back at her as the elevator finally came to a stop and the doors slid to the side to reveal a truly massive room.

Victus strolled casually into the room, his face expressionless as he walked into what looked like a giant warehouse modified to fulfil another purpose than storing resources.

 **"Huh"** the sound split the air like thunder and the Asari Commando's translator buzzed in her ears as the familiar speech of an Indominus filled the air.

Daell found her hand instinctively reaching towards her lower back as a truly huge Indominus rex strolled across the room, easily standing at 17 feet at the hip, the predator was likely over 60 feet long and sported a pale white hide covered with patches of elderly grey.

But that wasn't what made the Commando reach for her weapon, no it was the fact that the giant Indominus didn't have any shackles or a muzzle covering her body, nor were there any immediate guards in the vicinity to intervene if the predator decided to attack.

 **"Mordin we got company"** spoke the Indominus in an elderly dry voice that reminded Daell of an Asari matriarch, an individual reaching the final years of their lifespan.

"Send away, conducting very important research must not be disturbed" shot the rapid fire voice of a Salarian somewhere in the room, earning the Indominus to roll its eyes as it moved to stand before the small duo.

The Indominus was even larger up close, and at this range Daell was able to spot something truly unusual about the predators face. If she didn't know better the Commando would dare say someone had conducted tooth surgery on the Indominus, as the predators jaw sported evenly spaced fangs with none of them being chipped or broken in any manner. Nor did the Indominus have the jagged fangs of the usual member of its species Daell had met in person.

The General stood tall and firm, his posture unwavering in the shadowy gloom of the Indominus shadow as the predator glared down at them with clear irritation etched into those hazel eyes.

Looking over them both, the Indominus eyes locked themselves upon Daell and the predators tongue briefly emerged to lick its teeth. An old human gesture meaning something looked tasty and desirable to eat.

 **"You look delicious"** growled the Indominus, its jaws parting to allow Daell a good view of the fang filled cavern leading to the monsters throat,

Keeping her composure, Daell moved her hands away from her weapon and did her best to smile warmly at the predator glowering down at her.

"Thank you I'll take that as a compliment" said Daell as casually as she could, earning a snort of irritation from the predator as it turned its attention down to Victus.

 **"The Doctors busy, come back another time if you want to talk to him"** snapped the Indominus sharply, her tail lashing wildly at the air in clear signs of agitation.

"Thank you, but I am actually here to speak with you Dr Chakwas" said Victus casually as he stared up at the 10 tonne predator.

The Indominus tail froze in the air, her jaws slid shut and her eyes widen in a look of surprise rarely seen in these formidable predators. Shaking her head, Dr Chakwas shook off her surprise and regained her stern expression once more as the quills on her head arched up slightly in an aggressive manner.

 **"Someone well informed, what do you want Turian speak fast or I may decide to have a snack"** threatened the predator coldly in a manner Daell knew wasn't a bluff.

"My name in General Victus, I have an interest in the individual known as Commander Shepard" began the General calmly with a casual wave of the hand, at the mention of Shepard's name the Indominus recoiled in shock and the quills dropped flat against her head.

 **"Shepard? She survived the war….. What interest do you have with her!"** snarled the Indominus, like a battering ram the predator dropped to all four limbs to support herself as she brought massive skull face to face with the Turian general.

Daell really wanted to grab the shotgun on her lower back, but she knew that at this range the Indominus could kill them both before she got off a single shot.

"You are familiar with Shepard? I take that as a good sign as I'm hoping you can help me find her" said Victus, his tone stoic as ever despite having a massive carnivore literary breathing in his face.

 **"So you can lock her up? Fat chance little morsel"** growled Dr Chakwas angrily, her head drawing back and jaws opening to attack.

"Wait!" yelled a Salarians voice somewhere in the room, prompting the Indominus to pause and tilt her head to look over her shoulder at something.

"Let the General finished before you eat him, please try avoid making a mess lab just cleaned yesterday" rambled someone out of sight, and surprisingly Dr Chakwas listened to whoever was talking and close her jaws with a huff.

With a flick of the snout, the Indominus gestured for Victus to continue.

"I have an interesting in finding Shepard for two reasons, the first in personal." Dr Chakwas snorted "and the second is Shepard kidnapped a Turian named Garrus Vakarin, I intend to get him back."

Dr Chakwas stared at the General for several long minutes with an emotionless face, before slowly she rose to her full height and stared off into space as she began to speak.

 **"I knew a Shepard during the war, they were a good bunch the Shepard family…. What do you need from me Turian?"** asked the Indominus bluntly.

"I need your nose to track her down, she's a wild Indominus and we have no means to track her accurately without exhausting resources I cannot access" explained the general honestly, Daell just stood to the back of the room trying to look past the Indominus legs at what appeared to be a laboratory behind her.

 **"You intend to go into our ecosystem Turian? Our planet is not forgiving to you little prey and dark matter still lingers through the terrain"** warned Dr Chakwas darkly.

"I know the risks I've survive your ecosystems before" said Victus confidently.

"But has not survived packs of wild Indominus before" spoke up a salarian as he strolled onto the scene to stand beside the Indominus.

Daell was surprised to see an orange skinned Salarian with half a horn decorating his head standing there in dirty white armour plating. Almost casually, the Salarian leaned against the Indominus's leg and looked at the General with a thoughtful expression.

"Human and Indominus both pack predators, in natural habit only instinctual for them to band together into small dangerous community groups…. Still many places Council cannot control over earth lots of places to hide, perusing Shepard will be extremely dangerous mission, likely fatal." Rambled the Salarian as he held a hand to his chin in thought with a stern expression across his face.

 **"Ever the optimist…. He means to find Shepard we'll be passing through the territory of several packs of highly intelligent and territorial rex's like myself"** simplified the Indominus rather dryly.

"Like I said extremely dangerous, exciting challenge look forward to conducting operation" smiled the Salarian in a cheerful manner.

"I'm sorry but you are?" voiced up Daell in confusion.

"Apologies name is Professor Mordin Solus behavioural research division" began the Salarian only for Dr Chakwas to interrupt him.

 **"He's also a stubborn pain in my ass"**

"Did not ask for you to be here, was your choice to be lab assistant" muttered the Salarian.

 **"I chose to be a research companion not an assistant, I can still be a monster if I so wish it"** warned the Indominus darkly as she snapped her jaws in the air above the Salarians head.

"Is always your choice your life your control of who you are" Dr Chakwas snorted in reply before turning her attention back to a very confused General Victus.

Daell wasn't too sure what was going, from what she was hearing it sounded like the Indominus had an identity crisis or something quite recently.

 **"I'll help you find Shepard Turian, but that's only if you can get my medical armour back"** stated the Indominus with a devious gleam in her eye.

"Medical armour?" both Daell and Victus asked at the same time.

To be continued…..

* * *

 **Authors Note...sss?**

 **First off thanks to all the people who faved and followed the story thus far, I do hope your enjoying the story and its contents and I hope you enjoy the chapters to come.**

 **Secondly I got to give special thanks to my Friend 'WhenBooksFly101' who is the proud owner of Book who I'm using in this story, she is a brilliant artist and you should really check out her works on here and on her Deviant art page she's really good!**

 **Now to the people making sure I don't # this story up, thank you Ghostleader119 for being my current Beta for this story. Its thanks to this guy that my story isn't full of typos and I don't care what anyone says I'll spell Colour Armour etc the Australian way! Also special thanks to my friend DONOVAN94, who gave me some amazing help in refining the introduction of this chapter.**

 **Onto the next well topic, due to viewer pressure, I'll be adding velociraptors in later chapters. Possibly around 6-7 and in that time the story will begin to follow the Original mass effect story line... kind of...**

 **Take care and please share your thoughts on the chapter, take care everyone and oh!**

 **Guess who the Indominus in the intro is?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Replies to reviews:  
Okay so I'm going to start doing this again because its a little easier to reply to everyone and I find it a little fun.  
First up!**

 **Helkil: Indominus babies? Yes those will be seen in later chapters but it might be a little sad...**

 **BclassDemon: Errrr is that a request for some Indominus x Asari stuff? ^.=.^;;;; Okay so I need to touch on that history soon, but straight answer is yes. complicated answer is Indominus's and Asari have a bad history. Asari are the ones who came up with the Holding facilities.**

 **Braveseeker3: Ding ding heheh, glad your lovin this and you just reminded me I needed to write something about those two! Thank you enjoy the story.**

 **Also hope you all enjoy the story!**

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
Earth  
Regional rain forest  
1800 hours local time**

"I have a feeling your enjoying this?" grumbled the blue armoured form of Garrus as he was clasped tightly in the deadly claws of a black scaled Indominus rex.

Shepard glanced down at the Turian with silent satisfaction, her claws tightening around the aliens' pathetic armoured frame causing the material to groan beneath her superior strength. A small part of her relished in the act of asserting her power over this weaker predator, to remind him that she was the apex predator and that he was nothing more than mere prey to a monster like herself. **  
****  
**But another part of Shepard was unsure what to do, the more human side of her personality was intrigued by the young Turian and his reactions to them thus far over the day. But the human side of her was also cautious, aliens couldn't be trusted and they were the reason her world now sat in ruins. Something like that could never truly be forgiven.

 **"Shut up and point your light straight ahead"** growled Shepard in a menacing manner, her fangs drooling slightly as she spoke while her stomach growled slightly reminding her she hadn't eaten in over 6 hours.

Behind Shepard strolling along with an amused gleam in her eyes, was the brown scaled form of Book the Indominus Tech priest. Clasped tightly in the smaller predator's jaws was one of the corpses of a Viper raptor they managed to kill earlier that day while in Books hands she held a second corpse.

Both carcases had been a precaution to possibly pay tribute to any Indominus packs along their journey, from experience Shepard knew that some Alpha's will allow passage through their territory if an offering of meat was made to them. But that also depended on which Alpha's territory you were passing through, Shepard had made many enemies in establishing her own slice of land and her possession of Book as a pack member had made life difficult.

Book was a truly valuable Indominus as she was one of the rare few of her kind that could repair or activate old human technology, technology that if used correctly can establish a packs position of power for decades at a time. It was because of Books talent that Shepard had managed to fight off these larger packs from assimilating her own pack and its resources, that and Shepard's powerful biotic abilities meant she had a tactical advantage over most of her enemies.

 **"Were almost home now kid so stop fidgeting, I'd hate to drop your pitiful form and accidently step on it"** threatened Shepard sternly, the more Indominus side of her taking control once more and making sure she established her dominance over a lesser predator.

"With feet like those it'd be hard to miss me" muttered the Turian under his breath, Shepard chose to ignore the Turians insult while behind her Book muffled giggles could just be head through her mouthful of fur and flesh.

A few minutes passed on in silence as the trio walked through the darkness of the forest with Garrus using his rifles flashlight attachment to illuminate the way. The light itself wasn't critical to navigating the terrain but Shepard had wanted to use the chance to rub her scent off on the small Turian.

It was a rather innocent act in itself but Shepard wanted to make sure that everyone knew the Turian belonged to her, for the moment young Garrus was a rather important tool in helping to work out some of the mysteries about Book's tech priest powers. Shepard would hate to lose such an asset just because someone got hungry and thought the Turian would make a good snack.

Glancing down at the Turian, Shepard licked her own teeth and for a moment she remembered the spicy flavour of Turian blood running down her throat. She may not understand biochemistry but she did understand one thing, her kind could eat Turians but only in small amounts. Having more than 2 can cause painful stomach issues and Shepard had personally experienced the discomfort of indigestion.

"Do you smell that?" asked Garrus suddenly, snapping Shepard out of her daydreaming about food and back to the present.

Raising her nose to sniff the air, Shepard inhaled the bitter stench of smoke lingering in the forest undergrowth. And the only one who would be using a fire in this god forsaken forest was Shepard's second in command and fellow ex-soldier from the Alliance military.

 **"That is the smell of an Indominus cooking a meal"** said Shepard mentally grinning at the surprised look that flashed across the Turians face briefly.

A moment later, Shepard pushed her body through the undergrowth and emerged upon the scene of an old warehouse partly overgrown by vegetation creating a perfect natural camouflage to hide the building. Out in front the building sitting with her back to the wall, was the large muscular form of the Indominus rex known as Ashely Williams.

Ash was an unusual sort in that her chosen colouration was a mixture of white scales with pink highlights to scattered across her frame, such colours were useless at camouflaging her body, unless she manually changed the pigment of her scales like most Indominus could do naturally.

What made Ash more unusual, was the massive 2 meter long laser rifle resting on the ground beside her primed to fire on a moment's notice.  
With her quills perking up in recognition of her Alpha returning home, the powerful looking female rose to her feet and strolled forwards with rifle clasped in hand.

 **"Skipper your back, I was getting worried for a while there….. You've brought a snack?"** barked the Indominus her warm greeting changing to one of momentary confusion as her eyes settled upon the armed Turian.

 **"** **His name is Gahrus.."**

"It's Garrus" barked up the Turian in frustration at having his name pronounced incorrectly once more.

 **"Gahrus here is going to be doing some research with Book to figure out her tech priest powers, that means no eating him… yet"** Shepard glanced down with an evil flint in her eyes at the Turian.

Garrus felt his blood run cold in his veins, he should have totally applied for a career in C-sec instead of Indominus prison duty.

 **"I'll try to refrain from having a midnight snack"** growled Ash in a humorous manner, her tongue licking her fangs as she finished speaking to emphasise her point.

Book at that moment decided to make her presence known by throwing one of the viper carcasses right into Ash's face. The pink Indominus was caught off guard by the attacking corpse and jumped back in alarm her fangs letting out a menacing hiss of warning as the corpses slumped limply against the ground.

 **"We brought you a snack"** announced Book cheekily as she somehow pried Garrus free from Shepard's claws before darting away towards the warehouse.

Both large females watched the tech priest disappear from sight before glancing at one another in a mixture of amusement and irritation.  
Shaking her head, Ash used her jaws to pick up the viper raptor Book had thrown before turning around and moving towards a small fire pit where the dull glow of several hot coals could be seen glistening in the darkness of the night.

Shepard watched the pink scaled female walk away before shaking her head slightly with a snort of amusement, the relationship between Book and Ash was an unusual one. Neither really liked or disliked the other and rarely did they interact apart from either hunting or maintaining equipment around their home.

Yet Shepard had noticed that occasionally the two females would get a little snippy with one another, resulting in some humorous pranks or cheeky antics that would disrupt a dull rainy day or bring some life into the silent morning air.

Looking at the darkened expanse of the sky above, Shepard turned her focus to Ash who was proceeding to mount the dead viper raptor over the small fire to roast for dinner. The act of cooking wasn't really required for predators such as themselves who could digest flesh, bone and armour alike. Yet cooked meat tasted a little better and hot food was comforting after a long day of travelling.

 **"I cooked a little something earlier before you arrived if you're really hungry Skipper, but if you want to wait I'll get some herbs and other stuff to go along with this meal"** offered Ash as she leaned her weapon against a nearby tree before skewing the dead viper raptor with a thick metal spike.

Shepard considered the offer for a moment, she wasn't too hungry after eating the majority of the Viper Raptor pack that attacked her earlier that day. But she also knew that every ounce of food was vital for survival out in the forest, which mixed with Shepard's biotics meant it was necessary for her to consume more food than the rest of her pack each day or she risked becoming underweight.

 **"I'll wait for you to fix something up Ash, I take it your patrolling went well?"** asked Shepard casually as she positioned herself beside the fire and sat down on her haunches.

Ash mounted the skewed viper raptor on two metal poles fitted either side of the fire before looking up at her Alpha to reply.

 **"Miranda's pack is testing the boundaries once more but I noticed some unusual markings and scents on our boarders to Alenkos pack… I think their scouting our territory out for an attack"** informed Ash sternly, both the Alliance soldier and apex predator coming out of her as she spoke in a territorial manner as well as a tactician.

Shepard waved a hand slightly for her to continue as the pink decorated predator walked over to some large metal drums and grabbed a hand full of herbs and tossing it all over the burning viper raptor corpse.

 **"So I may have done a little scouting on their territory, from the scent markers and tracks I estimate they have a pack over 14. More than enough to mount an attack on us and more than enough to drive us off our territory…. I heard rumours from Old Alpha Jim that a few Indominus packs are going against the old ways and rebelling against traditions"** Ash informed as she took a seat opposite to Shepard before slowly turning the raptor corpse over the fire to cook it evenly.

Shepard narrowed her eyes and looked down at the burning coals upon receiving this news, the information was unsettling to say the least.  
The Alpha female knew that the pure offspring of the humans turned super predators were a little wilder in their nature, but to go against the laws and traditions set out amongst so many packs and the mighty Alpha clans was almost an act of war in itself.

Those traditions had ensured a degree of stability across the entire planet if the words of the odd caravan trader were anything to go by, sometimes traditions would vary in regions but they always held the same power and authority over each pack no matter how sinister or insane.

Sure Shepard herself had twisted or bent the traditions of old to some degree to establish her territory, but she always ensured she acted accordingly.

 **"Tonight start packing some of the heavy gear into the wagons, I'll tell Book personally to start packing some of the tech away for transport"** Shepard announced sternly and without uncertainty, things were looking bad and as pack Alpha Shepard was responsible for the wellbeing of her pack, if that meant relocating to a new area then so be it.

 **"And the herd?"** asked Ash calmly, body langue indicating she was waiting for further orders to be issued.

 **"We'll need it to travel through other pack territories, but try to bring only half of the herd…. I want to travel as light as we can to the trading hub in Clan Arcadias territory"** with that said, Shepard reached out a hand and grabbed the end of the metal poke skewing the partly cooked viper raptor.

Lifting the rod into the air, Shepard snapped her fangs over the corpse and promptly pulled it off rod before devouring the cooked flesh in a single bite.

* * *

 **Elsewhere with Book and Garrus  
**  
In the darkness of the night, the still crisp air was split with the grinding shriek of metal grinding against metal. Sparks danced in the darkness like shooting stars while a pair of long sickle like claws slowly pushed a pair of reinforced metal doors to the side allowing a beam of light to cut through the darkness like a knife.

Book groaned as she applied her strength to the several tonne door, arm muscles bulged beneath hard scaly armour while her claws sparked as they dug into the cold metal for grip. Slowly the small brown scaled Indominus rex managed to force the sliding doors to the side to reveal a truly massive room cloaked in darkness.

The small form of Garrus stood at the apex predator's feet, his rifles flashlight attachment casting a beam of light through the darkness to illuminate various storage boxes and machinery the likes of which were almost alien to him.

Book didn't say a word as she promptly strolled forwards, her feet making a thundering thump noise against the hard concrete floor followed by an irritating click as her claws kick the ground with her next step. With well fashioned accuracy, Book's claws reached out and grasped something hidden by the darkness.

 **"Welcome to my workshop"** announced the predator with a prideful note to her voice, a moment later the entire room was flooded with the glow of dull light projected from dozens of awkwardly positions light stands and orbs dangling from the ceiling above.

For a second Garrus was blinded by the light, his arm rushing upwards to conceal his face until his vision adjusted to the glare. When he was able to see again, Garrus felt his mandibles twitch and his shoulders slump in surprise.

Ahead an entire workshop sat with tools and machinery spewed in all directions amongst various human machines and contraptions who purpose was unknown to the young Turian. However he did spot a section of the apparent workshop that he did recognise from his time playing video games and studying the Dark Matter War.

What he saw, was pieces of Alliance weaponry and ordinance of devastating destructive potential just sitting around in various states of disrepair. Missile, belts of chemical projectiles and laser base weaponry, mixed with what looked like plates of Indominus armour plating that was likely infused with illegal nano-bot technology that was used to self-repair the protective plates during battle.

 **"It's cool…. Right?"** asked Book as she rubbed her hands together in a nervous gesture, the quills on her head lying flat against her scales in a timid manner.

"Cool?" asked Garrus, unsure what she meant by that phase as he placed his assault rifle upon his back.

 **"My stuff of course, I fixed all of this"** the Indominus announced with an air of pride about herself while her arms gestured outwards towards the workshop.

"You fix stuff?" asked Garrus with a hint of disbelief, how could a massive predator with hands as large as his torso have the fine motor skills or knowledge to repair and maintain advance pieces of weaponry and other technology?

Book sensed the Turians doubt and felt a brief wave of rage wash over her, how this puny little alien dare question her ability to fix human technology. The desire to consume the Turian like the prey he was returned to Book as the Indominus side of her flared to life, her jaws salivated slightly at the prospect of chewing on Garrus's pathetic armour white breaking apart his flesh and bone.

 _'No Book get a hold of yourself you need him!'_ screamed the human part of Books mind causing the Indominus to pause as her jaws parted slightly in preparation to strike.

 ** _'He's nothing but food he has no use to us'_** argued the Indominus part of Books mind as the massive predator towered above the unsuspecting Turian who was still gazing about the room.

 _'Shepard said he's not to be harmed and he is useful remember'_ screamed the Human side of Book one last time, drowning out the urge to consume and snapping the predator back to her logical senses.

Shaking her head with a snort, Book glanced down at Garrus who was oblivious that his life was in danger just seconds ago. The Indominus wasn't sure why the small Turian was making her instincts go wild, in the past she'd never been this confused nor had her instincts practically taken control and almost forced her to do things against her will.

The issue alone made Book feel unsettled, she would need to speak with Shepard about this when the Turian wasn't around.

Clearing her voice, Book scooped the Turian into her claws despite his cries of protest and proceeded to stomp over to a more secluded part of her workshop where crates and barrels of parts and supplies would conceal her from the entrance.

 **"Remember why you're here Gahrus?"** asked Book as she dropped the Turian roughly onto a large tractor tire, causing him to fall into the giant wheel and momentarily get stuck.

Book tried not to giggle at the sight of the Turian trying to dislodge himself from the wheel as he muttered something under his breath. When the Turian didn't reply to her question Book sighed in annoyance before growling loudly to grab Garrus's attention.

 **"When you scanned me you found an implant in my head"** Book said jabbing a claw at her skull **"I want you to scan me for more and tell me what its purpose is."**

Garrus glanced down at the small hand held device still locked securely to his waist, then back to the towering Indominus looming over him. The Turian did indeed remember the odd implant his Omni tool had accidently discovered earlier that day, while unsure of its purpose Garrus was confident that if given the time he could discover the function of Books implant.

"Wait you have an implant in your skull and don't know what it's for?" questioned Garrus in surprise, eyes taking in the Indominus body language as she began to fidget and clutch her hands close to her chest in a protective manner.

 **"I have a theory….. I think it's what gives me my Tech priest powers"** said Book hesitantly, her quills drooping against her skull as she spoke.

"Tech priest? You worship technology?" blurted out Garrus in disbelief, maybe he was wrong about these Indominus and they really weren't that smart if they worshiped technology as a religion.

The Turian noticed the change in Books body language shift from meek to frustrated, she shook her head and her quills perked up in an aggressive manner before her jaws parted to bellow angrily.

 **"** **I am not part of the church!"** she snarled fangs snapping at the air a mere meter from his face, bathing Garrus in the putrid stench of rotting flesh.

 **"The name was invented by the Church of Technology but it's a term used to describe people with my gift"** growled Book coldly as she glowered down at the Turian, when Garrus didn't reply Book thought it best to further educate her prisoner on the topic.

 **"A Tech priest is someone with an inert gift and knowledge of human technology, we can fix, control and build anything and everything if given the time and resources to do so. People as talented as myself are incredibly rare and desired by rival packs, to keep my family safe I maintain our weaponry and combat armour"** informed Book her eyes narrowed and voice slow to ensure the Turian heard every word.

 **"If my implant has something to do with my gift, than I need you to tell me why and possibly how to improve my skill, so start scanning!"** snapped Book feeling her patience wear thin and her Indominus side stir once more with the idea to just eat the Turian.

Not wanting to piss off Book any further, the young Turian practically sprung to his feet with a new sense of urgency to his movement. Whipping the scanner from his side, Garrus activated the small device and stood stock still as Book lowered herself to the ground, causing her to stand on all 4 limbs to support herself accordingly.

Without a word, Garrus began running the scanner over Books scaly head. His eyes glancing between both the sensory display screen and the form of the Indominus head just inches away.

Taking a moment to stop and properly look at her, Garrus was surprise to discover a light colouration pattern hidden in Books scales. Before he was too busy holding on for his life to really examine the predators hide, but now up close Garrus could see the slight darker shade of brown scales forming stripes all across Books body.

He also noticed Books eyes, great orbs of glittering bright green that held something more than just the gaze of a smart predator. He noticed it before when he first met Book at M15, now up close he had a suspicion he knew what that twinkle in her eye was.

It was the gaze of unique living being with her own thoughts and desires, of a sapient predator with the mental power to be cunning and plan long term tactics as well as utilise advance speech.

Garrus wasn't standing in front of an Indominus rex, he was standing in front of a human being trapped inside the body of a colossal hungry monster.

"Hold still I'll see if I can access the implant I found earlier" said Garrus as he activated his Omni-tool and began fiddling away.

Book cooed softly in response, her curiosity peeked as she watched the strange holographic technology envelope the Turians left arm.

"Do you feel anything unusual when I do this?" Garrus waved his Omni-tool in the air as he spoke, causing Book to pause in thought briefly before snorting that she didn't feel anything.

For nearly an hour the duo continued this charade, with Garrus using his limited tech skills to try access Book's Implant while the Indominus in question sat there on the floor patiently awaiting some form of discovery to be made.

It was well into the night when the sound of heavy footsteps split the air, urging both Indominus and Turian alike to snap their heads around and look upwards as the large black form of Shepard strolled into the room with a stern expression etched across her muzzle.

Shepard took one look at the pair of them, before parting her jaws to speak in a deadly serious voice that made Garrus want to shudder.

 **"I want the pair of you to begin packing up equipment for transport, in the next few days were going to be relocating to a new area so I want as much of our supply ready to go as possible"** Shepard eyes glanced down at Garrus, her tail swishing side to side with irritation as she then spoke directly to him.

 **"And you Kid, you're going to help Book and do everything she says, if I hear you're disobeying her orders I'm giving Ash permission to roast you alive over the fire. Is that understood Turian?"** snapped the Indominus glaring down her muzzle at the blue armoured alien at her feet.

"Sir Yes sir" said Garrus uneasily, the vivid image of his own flesh burning away etched into his mind at Shepard's words.

 **"Good, perform well and I may just give you omega status"** spat Shepard as she turned to leave, pausing briefly to look around the room before addressing Book.

 **"** **Try to get my armour organised by tomorrow night, I fear we will need it in the days to come"** Shepard's voice had lost its sharp edge as she spoke, this time carry a more concerned note the predators bite that didn't escape Garrus's ears.

 **"Yes Shepard, I'll do that now"** said Book sounding a little uneasy, her quills twitching as she rose to her full height.

Without another word, Shepard strolled out of the room and out of sight. Leaving Garrus to muse over the Alpha female's words while he followed the brown form of Book who was nervously shuffling about the place moving several crates in the process to clear a path.

A moment of reorganising resources later, Garrus found himself walking behind Book as she strolled into a new section of the warehouse that looked to be an armoury. An empty rack of weapons sat against the far wall while several pieces of what looked like combat armour sat about with their internal circuitry exposed to the world.

 **"Are you…."** Suddenly spoke up Book snapping Garrus attention back to her as she glanced down at him.

"Am I what?" replied the Turian promptly.

 **"Are… You good with tech?"** asked Book nervously, her eyes glancing around the place while her claws grasped what Garrus recognised as a missile pod.

"I have some experience" admitted Garrus cautiously, his eyes following Book as she strolled away missile pod in hand.

 **"Good… I errr"** Book placed the missile pod on the ground, her tail swishing dangerously though the air and her quills twitching with anxiety.

 **"I need your help"** Book beckoned the Turian over, her giant sickle claws hand gently pushing him towards a table nestled against a wall.

A table that was covered in traces of moss while an old rusty looking computer sat upon the aging wood, its screen alight with power displaying the accurate readings of what Garrus assumed to be the power supply running throughout the room.

Cautiously taking a seat on an old metal chair, Garrus stared down at the human computer with uncertainty while an agitated Indominus rex hovered over his shoulder looking at him expectantly.

"What do you need me to do?" asked Garrus slowly, his claw like finger poking at the cold hard keyboard sitting in front of him with apprehension.

 **"While I can access and control machines with my mind, there are some things I cannot do despite my gift of knowledge, do you know anything about calibrating's the targeting system of a T12 guided missile launcher?"** asked Book in a hopeful manner.

Garrus thought about the question slowly, before a confident look crossed his face and he glanced over his shoulder at the worried predator.

"If it's one thing I know how to do, it's calibrate a giant gun" said the Turian, before he turned his focus on navigating the confusing software of the 100 year old computer.

Book looked surprise briefly, then a look crossed her face and before she could stop herself she gave the Turian the biggest, wettest lick across the back of the head she could muster. Garrus sat there as still as a statue, nose burning with the stench of Indominus drool and his face paint smearing from the warm saliva crawling down his face.

An innocent giggle escaped Books fangs, her jaws smacking together slightly as she took note of Garrus flavour. She didn't know why she did it, but something about the gesture just seemed to be the right thing to do at the time.

Garrus however wished Book had a more subtle way of expressing her happiness than drowning him in drool.

* * *

 **The next day  
1 Day after Vakarans kidnapping  
M12 Indominus holding facility.**  
 **0500 hours local time.**

With a wide yawn that revealed her collection of deadly fangs to the world, Dr Chakwas slowly closed her jaws with a soft growl and dug her fangs into the concrete floor she laid upon.

The massive white Indominus rex was sitting about casually on the air field of M12, her huge form easily rivalling the transportation shuttles and supply craft sitting about the air in silence just waiting to be used. While Dr Chakwas didn't mind the chatter of engineering personnel wondering around the area, she did mind that her routine was pushed ahead of schedule meaning she was up 2 hours earlier than she'd like to be.

Things had gotten interesting for her really fast after the unexpected visit from General Victus, Chakwas had to give it to the alien he was a brave individual and she could respect him as a strong powerful alpha male of his kind. But Chakwas was also a strong Alpha female in her own right, meaning she couldn't let such admiration show to the enemy without losing some of her physiological impact.

If it was one thing she'd learnt during the Dark Matter war as the council called it, it was that terrify the enemy enough and eventually their soldiers wouldn't have the will to stand and fight. As a field doctor the Indominus had seen countless brave men and women break down in front of her, confessing their greatest regrets and spilling their final breaths of both defiance and fear.

Those memories still hung with her 100 years to this day, she remembered every face. Every soldier's name that came screaming into the medical tent and every dying breath as people young and old fought against savage wounds to stay alive.

The Indominus growled as the memories stung her mind once more, making an old rage begin to burn inside her heart. It was an aching desire that threated to consume her if she wasn't careful, the desire of vengeance for every one of those she saw die at the hands of the alien invaders.

Inhaling sharply, Chakwas shook her head and looked to the sky above. Slowly the darkness of the night was fading away with the light of dawn, bring about a new day in the chapter of life that flourished beyond her prison walls.

Out there beyond these walls of concrete and metal, was the living breathing form of Commander Shepard. The Indominus rex that had saved thousands of lives during the war and had been one of the bravest women Chakwas had ever known.

Shepard had held the line just outside her front line medical clinic, the Indominus could still hear the burning hiss of laser rifles. The chorus of artillery raining from the sky with sickening wails that could only be drowned out by the supersonic crackle of mass accelerator discharging in the distance.

For a moment Chakwas breath was caught in her chest, her eyes began to water and she felt sick to her gut with pain. A whimper escape the giant predator's jaws, the sound barely louder than a whisper on the wind. Slowly, a 5 finger hand reached out and pressed itself softy against those snowy white scales.

The Indominus shuddered, her muscles tensing and jaws parting to issue a snarl of outrage to scare off who ever had dared placed their hands upon her.  
But looking down with her hazel eyes, Chakwas was met with the soft gaze of an Asari clad in green combat armour.

It was the Asari who she tried to scare off earlier that day, the small pitiful human like creature was unnervingly similar to a female human in structure. A fact that made Chakwas disliking of the species even stronger despite their role in spousing the Dark Matter Wars.

 **"Come to gawk at the crying monster?"** spat Chakwas bitterly, her hand reaching up cautiously to rub away the tears leaking down her cheek.

"I came to comfort the crying human" was the gentle and honest reply of the Asari.

Chakwas was momentarily surprised by the statement, it wasn't a sentence she heard often over the years and she knew for a fact that many personnel at M12 thought she should be euthanized for being 'too' intelligent and a danger to security.

She always heard people muttering crude things behind her back, some speaking out in fear of her size while others from the anger of losing friends to Chakwas kin imprisoned in this very facility.

"You're very different from the humans I've met over the years" spoke up the Asari, her voice calm and steady indicating she felt no fear, something Chakwas was tempted to fix so she could have some peace and quiet.

 **"The humans you met are those driven insane by isolation or still traumatized with the after effects of the transformation"** stated Chakwas bluntly, her wisdom of the issue coming light after years of research.

"But your different to them, you don't look angry or insane… you look… sad" said the Asari placing a hand on Chakwas own in a cautious manner, the Indominus jaws fell open in disbelief.

That was a small human gesture for comfort, an act Chakwas doubted the galaxy still used amongst its people meaning one thing.

"Why are you sad Doctor?" asked the Asari, her fingers squeezing the Indominus smallest finger softly in a comforting manner.

Chakwas wasn't sure what to do, should she eat this Asari to make the pain go away or should she tell her the truth?

 **"I've had a long life child, 100 years is a long time for our species…. 100 long and painful years"** Chakwas spoke softly, her eyes staring down at the red face painted Asari, who if Chakwas used her imagination could be mistaken for a human.

 **"I was there in the trenches in your Dark matter war, I felt the rage consume me as I helplessly watched the people I care for die and their deaths made me become what I am today"** Said Chakwas as she moved her free hand close to her own face, eyes taking in the giant claws that could rip an alien in half with a single swipe.

 **"You can't image the pain, of having your bones shattered and your flesh torn apart. Of feeling your insides slither about while your mind threatens to be swallowed by instincts of another beast, I was one of those lucky enough to remain sane after the transformation"** Chakwas felt a tear run down her face as she looked behind her at the dark walls of M12.

 **"** **I am sad because I am a Doctor, my job is to care and heal my people when they are sick, but the sickness of the mind is difficult to treat and while I try to find a solution to help those in need….."** Chakwas turned her attention out to the forest beyond the tall walls of the facility.

"What does your heart say?" asked the Asari, her eyes following Chakwas line of sight, to the Indominus that was a hard question.

Chakwas knew her duty was to her people, to help those held captive here heal and comfort them through grief and regret. But that sense of failure she felt every time she remember Shepard's face, she owed that girl a life debt after what she did for her during the war.

 **"I already failed to protect Shepard once during the war, I owe it to her to make sure she's safe after all these years"** said Chakwas with a hint of regret etched into her thunderous voice.

Slowly rising to her feet, the giant Indominus rex reared up on her legs, bringing her skull high into the air making herself look ginormous in size. Towering in the air above the Asari, Chakwas let a sinister growl escape her lips as she remembered this was an alien she was talking too. Her sworn enemy who didn't understand quite what it meant to be human, snapping her jaws the Indominus glared down at the offending alien.

Her next words were sharp and sinister, like those of the insane inmates imprisoned in M12 many holding cells. But those inmates did not possess the sheer strength or voice to chill the Asari known as Daell to the bone.

 **"If you ever tell anyone what was said here, I will hunt your down like the prey you are and devour your alive, is that understood?"** Chakwas sneered, her fangs darting down to snap at the air above the alien.

"Yes sir…"

* * *

 **Meanwhile inside M12**

"That's some story" said General victus slowly, his mandibles twitching as he lowered a glass from his lips and turned his gaze to stare at the orange Salarian leaning over a research station.

"All true, no reason to lie" remarked Mordin with a wave of his hand, eyes not leaving the lenses of a microscope he was using.

Victus stood there in silence for some time, eyes turning to stare at the floor as his mind processed the recent information he was given. Mordin's story was a strange one to say the least, full of twists and illogical actions, the Salarian and his 'assistant' had been to countless planets on covert operations including an assignment to improve the Genophage to keep the Krogan population under control.

Honestly Victus couldn't tell who was scary, a planet of giant super predators, or an entire species who only knew war and destruction as a reason for living?

But what Victus found most unusual and if not impossible from Mordins story, was that Dr Chakwas remembered everything from her time before her transformation.

For the last few years, Victus had assumed that the intelligence of the Indominus species was something inherited from their human heritage after the transformation. He was taught that the trauma of mutating into the super predator practically erased the humanity and memories from the Indominus, but to be told that it was possible for memories to survive the transformation meant that there could be hundreds of smart predators roaming around the planet with a shattered sense of identity.

 **"GRRRRR!"** a loud rattle of metal against scale filled the air and the General cast a glance at the large Indominus shackled to the floor across the room.

The dully grey Indominus rex was covered head to toe in horrific scars and recently stitched together wounds that made Victus shudder in disgust, a sense of sympathy washed over the elderly Turian as he took in the pathetic looking predator shackled head to toe in chain like a piece of cargo.

"Oh shhhh pain will subside once sedative kicks in" called out Mordin was a jab of the finger in the predator's direction.

Disorientated yellow eyes stared at Mordin with a mixture of anger, confusion and thanks. Jaws parted to make a funny cooing noise before the Indominus took on a crazed look and began thrashing about once more making a loud ruckus.

"How many at M12 do this to themselves?" asked Victus slowly, eyes taking in the horrible scars covering the unnamed predators hide.

Mordin paused in his work, eyes glancing away from the microscope to give the general a sadden expression.

"Many subjects use self-harm as coping mechanism for isolation…. Try to help sometimes by talking mostly by healing wounds….. Options limited" as if proving Mordins point the Indominus tail broke free of its restraints and crashed into a storage crate, sending the object flying across the room spilling its contents all over the place.

"I wonder why" muttered Victus with a shake of the head at the predators antics, it was a sight he was used to seeing after working with the inmates for such a long time.

"Not his fault, mind broken and in pain responds best to physical comfort of own kind… Chakwas ideal assistant in treating patients..." muttered Mordin with his rapid fire voice, but there was a note to the Salarians voice that made Victus feel concern.

"Chakwas strong maternity instincts helpful, keeps subjects calm during research helps Indominus interact naturally" said Mordin slowly, more to himself than to the General.

"Why do you care so much about them, about her?" questioned Victus sternly, his expression void of emotions while his body language expressed patience.

"Indominus need help, best candidate for the job… Someone else might get it wrong" Mordin looked at the General and put on a fake smile.

Across the room, the Indominus made a garbling noise before regurgitating its last meal all over the floor.  
Both Salarian and Turian alike covered their noses, eyes narrowed as the putrid stench filled the air like tear gas. It was at that moment Mordin realised he'd mistaken this Indominus for another of his patients, and that this particular predator didn't respond well to the sedatives he used.

Just a minor mistake….

To be continued….

* * *

 **Authors note:**

 **As usual, special shout out to all the lovely people who fave and follow this story, I do hope your all enjoying the series.**

 **And a reminder, the Character Book belongs to the lovely friend and writer 'WhenBooksfly101' please if you like dinosaurs go check out her work you wont be disappointed.  
**  
 **Thank you to Ghostleader119 for Beta the story so far, your awesome mate for helping me with this!**

 **With pleasantries aside, I got a question for people. Do I start doing some codex entries to fill in the blanks on some info? And do you as the reader want to see some snippets from before the 'Dark Matter war' to see what humanity was like before conflict broke out?**  
 **Your input is valid and questions help keep me thinking and stops my overlooking crucial points, take care everyone be safe out there.**

 **Regards:**  
 **RED**


	5. Chapter 5

**Responses to reviews:**

 **Tjuparulla: gotta say one hell of a name to try and pronounce by the way ^.=.^ Glad you thought the story is interesting and what kind of Codex stuff you interested in?**

 **Guest: Well here the next chapter enjoy.**

 **Blazeknight26: Jack will be making her appearance soon, just well lots of stuff to write about hard to cover all at once, I'm trying to keep my story in 6000 word chapters but eh its harder than ya think.**

 **Diamondbackgunner: ambivalent? Errr wow big word I think I understand it hehe. Hmmm should I do entire chapters separate about snippets from the past and stuff?**

 **The Amazing2711: Will tale sole time? Errr ummm okay not sure what you meant.**

 **Now that's over enjoy the story!**

* * *

 **Macedon system**  
 **2072**  
 **Patavig**  
 **3100 Local time…..**

Patavig was an unusual if not inhospitable world scattered amongst the stars of the Milky Way, the planet was unique in the regards that its only landmass was giant sheets of frozen ice surrounded by a liquid sea of ammonia.

Surprisingly, inside these toxic oceans of liquefied gas, complex organisms larger than a man swam about without harm. Their unique biology having evolved to survive the poisonous liquid and thrive in the chilly weather of this frozen planet.

It was here, amongst the frozen sheets of ice and snow that a lone vehicle thundered along. Hard caterpillar tracks pummelled the snow like a sledge hammer. Dragging the 40 odd tonnes of war machine across the frozen abyss with a dully metallic rumble that echoed throughout the land.

Sitting upon the side of the strolling war machine known as a 'Tank', was the dark black and grey armoured form of an Alliance soldier outfitted with an environmental suit.

The humans face was concealed behind her advance respirator mask, while her eyes were hidden behind a glow of demonic red visors that could cast fear into the bravest of warriors. The Soldiers entire body was clad head to toe in a thick, pressurised suit of bullet resistant fibre and self-heating thermal technology that was the only barrier between frail soft flesh and the agonising cold of Patavig local weather.

Surrounding a majority of this suit, was the cold metallic exoskeleton of the soldier's power assistant armour. A metallic frame of servo's and hydraulics that gave the soldier inhuman strength and endurance to fight the strongest of adversaries, or deliver the most fatal wounds with the soldier's bare hands.

But for Corporal Ashely Williams of the Alliance Military, her suit and armour didn't feel like it was doing anything to keep the chill from her bones.  
For hours the female warrior had sat upon the Volus designed battle tank with no additional protection to keep her warm, the tanks unique design was both a blessing and a curse for those operating on the inside.

With a pressurised hull of ammonia gas, the tank was literary a moving coffin for the individuals inside known as the Volus. A species of small round creatures who evolved on a high pressurised atmosphere, known for their brilliance in commerce. The Alliance and Volus people had been working for the past few decades developing and training the physically weak species to utilise their cunning on a strategic level.

While not the most terrifying of species in the galaxy, Ashley had quickly learnt to admire the Volus tank crews for their efficiency and bravery in the line of duty. Utilising human dark matter technology, the Volus Terran battle tank was a deadly piece of weaponry utilising an 88mm Mass Accelerator that could reach out well over 40kms to touch the enemy.

But the Terran tank had one drawback, if the hull was ruptured in combat, the depressurization will instantly kill the Volus crew inside. Getting in and out of the tank was a dangerous task at the best of times, yet alone out here in the frozen waist of Patavig.

Suddenly the tank lurched to a stop, dislodging Ash from her perch and sending her rolling off the side of the tank and onto the snow with a soft thump.

Scrambling to her feet and raising her rifle to her shoulder, Ashely leaned against the tank for support while her left hand snapped to her helmet activating her inbuilt radio.

"What's going on?" asked Ashely, her eyes scanning her heads up display system for hostile contacts.

"Reactor overheated… got to let it cool down" spoke back the tanks commander over the radio, a moment passed before Ash replied.

"How the heck did your reactor overheat it's frozen out here!" she yelled in confusion, voice echoing inside her own helmet.

"The ventilation system is frozen over air isn't reaching the reactor" was the blunt and honest reply from the tank commander, leaving Ash to shake her head as she crawled back onto the tank.

Standing upright and walking about, the Alliance soldier soon spotted the problem with the engine in the form of a slab of snow covering the back of the tank, effectively clogging up the complex air filter system and choking the engine of much needed air.

Grumbling under her breath, Ash raised her rifle, her thumb flicking the safety off and allowing the micro dark matter reactor to send a thrum of power through her weapon.

Squeezing the trigger, the harsh hissing of super-heated air broke the dull silence of the land. Bolts of red light lashed out from Ash's weapon, liquefying snow and ice in a heartbeat and revealing the hardened form of the ventilation system beneath.

Inside her HUD, Ash was conscious of the digital counter rapidly counting back from 99 on the side of her display. An Alliance Laser rifle could discharge its 99 rounds of concentrated light energy within 3 seconds of sustained fire, which was 33 bolts of flesh burning light per second.

But due to heating issues, the laser rifle Ash held would automatically lock itself upon firing the 100th round of laser energy. This was a failsafe to prevent the laser rifle from overheating and rupturing internal components, components that if compromised could turn Ash's weapon into a live dark matter hand grenade.

Discharging her weapon until it automatically stopped firing and a warning flashed across her HUD, Ash smirked in satisfaction beneath her helmet as her eyes took in the now cleared ventilation grill on the back of the tank.

"Commander vent is clear, how long until were moving again?" radioed Ash calmly, her arm reaching over her back to deposited her rifle on magnetic clamps beside the dark matter generator powering her exoskeleton armour.

A moment of silence passed and Ash stood there hugging her armoured chest for warmth, her eyes staring down at the locked hatch on top of the tank where she knew the tanks commander resided.

"Corporal we're detecting coms chatter to out 3 o'clock, do you have visual over?" snapped the Volus voice loudly, causing Ash to crouch behind the tank turret while her hand snapped the rifle from her back in the process.

Shoving the stock of her weapon against her shoulder, Ash aimed down the crude metal sights of the laser rifle in the tanks 3 o'clock position.  
In the distance, Ash could just make out the shape of several large and recognizable vehicles thundering across the land on caterpillar tracks.

Relief washed over Ash and she slowly rose to her feat, rifle lowering in the process as her HUD register the friend or foe tags of the armed vehicles in the distance.

To her surprise, it was a group of German Alliance soldiers from one of the mining colonies on the planet. Which was both a good and bad thing, good as they were human and friendly. Bad because they were supposed to be defending one of the main colony settlements a good 200 km from this position.

"I repeat, this is the Alliance 5th Panzer division sounding off to all Alliance personal do you read me over?" sudden snapped a voice Ash's helmet radio.

For a moment Ash stood there with her jaw slack beneath her helmet, everyone had heard of the German Panzer divisions and the fear they could inflict across the galaxy. Known for smashing through the Batarian defences at Torfan, the German Panzer's were one of the most deadly land vehicles ever developed by humanity.

"This is the Volus Terran tank 0102, we read you loud and clear Panzer division over" suddenly announced the Volus tank commander over the radio line.

"Terran 0102 this is Panzer 0300, you have no idea how glad we are to see you over" came the voice of the German tank crew, Ash stood on top of her own tanks turret, arms waving in the air in a gesture of greetings to the tanks rumbling in the distance.

"The feeling is mutual Panzer 0300"

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
Earth  
Regional rain forest  
1 day after Vakarians kidnapping  
0700 hours local time**

The large muscular form of the white and pink Indominus rex known as Ash let a small sigh escape her fangs in irritation, it had been a long time since the battle of Patavig. Even today she still couldn't believe the Turians had launched a surprise attack on the mining world deep in Alliance territory, she didn't remember the exact details. Only that it was a miracle she survived the initial attack and it was all thanks to those stupid Volus.

A growl left her jaws and claws tightened the straps and webbing around her shoulder, fastening the hardened plate of Nano infused fibre armour to her body in the process.

Standing their clad in a full set of basic Indominus armour plating, Ash felt irritated by the sense of failure and regret she felt every time she remembered that damn frozen planet. And every time she remembered that Volus tank crew, she felt a sense of shame wash over her, she never knew what happened to those cursed aliens.

Glancing down at the control panel on her left gauntlet, Ash tapped a claw on several buttons and flicked a switch. Allowing power from the dark matter reactor on her back to spew into her suits minor electrical systems.

The single point defence laser orb on her chest swivelled about with a hum as well as the defence lasers build into her shoulder armour, the low powered weapons humming softly as they scanned the immediate vicinity for incoming ordinance to destroy.

Flicking another switch, Ash felt a coldness wash over her body as her kinetic barriers flickered to life. Casting an invisible field of protective energy around her form, if the lasers failed to blast apart a missile. Than her shields would absorb the blast instead protecting her from harm.

The Indominus had to thank both Book and those Ingen guys for making and repairing the combat armour, Ash wasn't sure she'd survive all the fights she had without the protective material around her form. Personally Ash would prefer a set of Weapon Specialist armour, the additional protection and weaponry would greatly improve the pack's defensive and offensive potential. But sadly Shepard hadn't been able to secure such a deadly piece of technology over the years and they lacked the munition stockpile to properly arm such a piece of weaponry.

Satisfied that her suit was working correctly, Ash reached down and grasped the iconic helmet of her people. The open face helmet was unusual in that it only protected the upper portion of the face and skull, leaving no armour plating around the jaws in the process. A factor that allowed the wearer to fully utilise their metal ripping jaw strength without hindrance.

Briefly staring into the clear visor like lenses around the eye sockets of the helmet, Ash stared at her own reflection for a moment before flicking the helmet around shoving it over her head.

Magnetic locks on the back of the helmet attached themselves to the plates of armour strapped to her neck, while the Indominus's claws fiddled with a strap wrapping under her jaws completely securing the helmet in place.

Now fully armoured, Ash proceeded to arm herself with the giant Indominus size laser rifle leaning against the wall. The weapon itself unnervingly resembling the human sized laser rifle Ash used during her time in the Alliance military.

Pushing the weapon onto her back where magnetic locks latched onto the weapon, Ash gave herself a quick look over before standing tall and strolling out of her section of the warehouse with a rattle of shifting armour plates.

Moving past large storage creates rusted with age, the Indominus rex strolled to outside where the sun set high in the sky warming the forest below and bringing with it the relaxing scent of a summer morning. Inhaling through her nose, Ash took in the scent of the forest and her family, with its familiarity and comfort helping to steady her nerves and banish the thoughts of a war long in the past.

 **"Hmmm"** Shepard voice snapped the air like a whip, causing the armoured Indominus to freeze like a statue as the vegetation beside her literary stood up to loom beside her.

Slowly the patchwork of greenery darkened to a shade of black, revealing the scared hide of Shepard herself in her demonic like glory. Amber red eyes stared at Ash with a criticising gaze, fangs clicking softly as the Alpha female slowly circled the motionless predator armed for combat.

Snorting softly, Shepard finished her inspection with a snap of the jaws and reached out to check one of the straps across Ash's body.

 **"I want you to get your armour checked by Book before we head out, I will not have my Beta die because of faulty equipment if Alenko's pack find us"** declared Shepard sternly almost like a concerned parent, Ash remained silent as Shepard inspected her armour once more before giving a nod of approval.

 **"Good, man the fort Ash I'm going fishing, make sure to wake Book up soon I think she was up all night working on something…"** announced Shepard in a calm manner as she turned her back to Ash and strolled towards the undergrowth.

 **"Copy that Skipper, good luck"** replied Ash with a nod of the head, Shepard made a laughing sound in reply.

 **"I'm an Indominus rex the fish shall fear my wraith"** joked the Alpha female as her scales once more changed colour to resemble the surrounding forest, and for a second time that day Shepard literary vanished into the undergrowth leaving Ash to protect the nest.

Shaking her head at Shepard dreadful sense of humour, the armoured Indominus did a quick scan of the surrounding clearing for anything out of place. Satisfied with her observation, Ash promptly spun on her feet and strolled back into the warehouse, a devious gleam in her eyes as she plotted how best to awaken the sleeping tech priest.

Forcing her movements to be slow and calculated, the Indominus rex moved almost silently towards her unsuspecting prey. Claws twitching with eagerness Ash entered Books workshop and spotted something she didn't expect.

Sleeping on her side amongst a pile of tools and machine parts, lay the snoring form of a brown scaled Indominus rex with her arms wrapped affectionately around the sleeping blue form of a Turian. Ash was startled by how happy the sleeping predator looked while snuggling an alien, and by the way she clung to the Turian like a child hugging a teddy bear.

A flash of rage erupted inside Ash, anger filled her very core and the Indominus inside her snarled with furry upon the sight of the plate skinned alien in the room. Oh how she hated those pathetic Turians for what they did to her people, it was because of them that her home world was in ruins. Her people locked away like zoo animals while those outside squabbled and fought for power amongst themselves, she hated just how low the Council races had brought her people.

But she also hated how they believed themselves to be justified in what they did. Ash had captured a Batarian once during her time on Earth, the wretched little creature had amused her for a time with his pathetic attempt to bribe her for his life. The alien had ramble on and on that it was the Asari who caused the war not his people, and that the Batarian's as a whole had nothing to do with the conflict.

Ash had listened for a while to that stupid creature, before getting hungry and eating him. Remembering the crunch of alien bone between her teeth had an oddly calming effect upon the Indominus, inhaling deeply Ash calmed herself and shoved the blood thirsty desire of her Indominus side to the corner of her mind.

Shepard had given clear instructions, the Turian lives until he lost his usefulness. Then she got to eat him.

Stealthily moving forwards, Ash strolled right up to the sleeping duo and inhale a deep breath. Gathering all her strength, the Indominus let out her species signature shriek like roar that rattled the ceiling and woke Book with a furry of pitiful barks and screams of terror. Even Garrus yelled in alarm as the ear splitting roar rattled his ear drums practically making him deaf in the process.

Snapping her jaws shut and silencing the roar, Ash sneered smugly at the panicked looking Indominus at her feet. That was until Book realised what happened, face twisting into a look of utter rage, the Tech priest grabbed something in her jaws and flung it at Ash with enough force to kill a man.

Kinetic barriers flashing to life, Ash only flinched as the 44galon drum bounced off the protective barrier and shattered apart, letting its oily contents spew all over the floor in the process.

 **"GET OUT!"** thundered Book with a voice equally as loud as Ash's wake up roar, this time a tool box flew through the air to crash against the Indominus kinetic shields.

Ash didn't have to worry about Book's attacks hurting her, she knew that her Kinetic shields could withstand a direct hit from a main battle cannon without faltering, some blindly tossed objects would do little to hurt her in this state.

A beeping in her ears alerted Ash that her kinetic barriers had just deactivated, and judging by the glint of madness in Books eye the Indominus knew the tech priest was the cause of this.

Ducking to avoid a flying metal box, Ash reluctantly retreated from the Tech priest territory before she could do any real harm. Book may be small but she was still strong enough to do some damage in a fight, that and she was in arm's length of nearly all their munitions… Ash wouldn't tempt the Indominus to use them.

That and when Shepard finds out what happened Ash knew she'd be forced to help Book clean up the mess, but considering they were relocating she may be able to weasel out of cleaning up the oil.  
 **  
**Moving back into the clearing around the warehouse, Ash noticed the fire had gone out overnight and growled in annoyance. Shaking her head, the Indominus snapped her gaze upon a pile of wood off to the side and grumbled as she strolled towards the mass of old crumbling branches and logs most people would use for events such as bonfires.

Flexing her claws, Ash grabbed a branch adorned with dry old leaves and dragged the mass of wood over to the fire place. The Indominus rex repeated this process for several minutes, moving logs and arm full of branches back and forth until a large stack of wood sat on the blackened soil where the fireplace sat.

Circling the stack of fire wood with a criticizing gaze, Ash gave a loud snort of approval and nod of her head. All she had to do now was light the fire and they'd have a means of warmth and a cooking tool later that night, but for now Ash had other matters to addend too.

Looking around the clearing, Ash spotted a small blue armoured form slowly emerge from the warehouse with weapon in hand and body language rigid with nerves. Narrowing her eyes, Ash turned her body to completely face the alien as she drew her laser rifle from her back.

Ash's jaws parted to speak, but the Turians found his voice first and cut her off before she could utter a word.

"What was all that roaring about?" asked the Turian while rubbing a hand against his head in what looked like discomfort.

Ash just gave the alien a cold glare of irritation for his stupidity, then she remembered the fact he was an alien and outsider. Some of the simplest of gestures or actions were unknown to him.

 **"Just how much do you actually know about us Turian?"** growled Ash coldly, her hands flicking the rifle onto her back once more as she lowered herself onto all four limbs to better look the Turian in the eyes.

"Honestly?" Garrus glanced over his shoulder "less than I thought I did."

Ash grunted in reply, glad that this alien could tell when it didn't know anything. But then Garrus went and ruin it by stating what he did know.

"In training we were taught that your species are highly evolved and adaptive apex predators with an instinctually desire to kill all living things" Ash's head hovered above the Turian, fangs parted and throat rumbling with a menacing growl.

 **"Keep talking and I may prove that theory right"** threatened the Indominus with a snap of her fangs causing Garrus to take a step back and raise his rifle.

Big mistake.

Ash lunged for the Turian, jaws flying part in preparation to devour the irritating alien. What the Indominus had failed to predict was a powerful pull on her tail as sharp claws grasp the appendage.

Claws ripping into the earth in protest, Ash spun about with a furious snarl only to stop dead in her tracks as a pair of emotionless amber red eyes stared down at her. Shepard was back, and she didn't look amused.

Eyeing her Beta closely, Shepard moved past the silent predator and down at Garrus who had wisely sought cover behind some old cargo containers where an Indominus rex would have a hard time getting him. That is if they weren't a biotic.

Body blowing with purplish blue energy, Shepard flicked her hand to the side and the entire cargo container rolled its side with a shower of dust. Leaving a speechless Turian holding his rifle standing their like a statue.

Without a word, Shepard lowered her head and parted her jaws. Releasing several drool covered items from the cavern of her mouth that slapped against the ground at Garru's feat. Disgusted, Garrus glanced up at Shepard waiting for an explanation.

 **"One of those fish you should be able to eat, I trust Ashely can prepare you a fire to cook your meal while I go adorn my armour"** said Shepard with a glance at the other predator in the area, Ash grumbled a reply but gave a nod of understanding to satisfy the alpha female.

Garrus meanwhile was kneeling over the puddle of drool, his eyes wide with recognition as he spotted one of the few aquatic lifeforms he recognise from his own homeworld. It was a relatively small fish like creature covered in a hard outer shell to protect it from Palavans harsh sun, Garrus remembered eating one of these fish on the rare occasion back when he was just a kid.

 **"Oh and Garrus"** Shepards voice split the air like a whip snapping the Turians attention away from his potential next meal.

 **"We are a pack dynamic community, positions are earnt and held by enforcing power and dominance over others of the pack…. I'm sure Ash was evoking her privileges to invade Books personal territory and rudely awaken her again?"** Shepard's scolding gaze fell upon the offending Beta, and Garrus was surprised to see how the armoured predator seemed to shy away from the larger female in an almost submissive manner.

Making a loud growl sound of annoyance, Shepard shook her head and strolled away into the interior of the warehouse. Leaving the Turian once more alone with the armoured form of Ash to deal with.

Inside the Turians head, the young prison guard was slowly beginning to piece together a system of authority. Shepard was clearly the leader of this so called pack, everybody listened to her without question and none dared to defy her. Then there was Ash, a large warrior like individual in appearances, Ash appeared to hold second rank beside Shepard. Leaving Book to bring up the rear of the pack, unless there were more Indominus's hiding around that Garrus had yet to see.

Ash on the other hand, was silently fuming to herself for being caught almost defying Shepard's orders. Deep down the Indominus knew Shepard was already planning some kind of punishment for her, likely doing some mundane duty like collecting water from the local river.

Then there was the fish, it shouldn't be of any concern to her but the fact that Shepard herself had gone off to fetch this alien a meal made the Indominus blood boil in outrage.

Shepard was acting very strange towards the Turian, almost like he was part of the pack instead of a prisoner. The idea itself just wasn't right, the alien was prey nothing more and nothing less. To treat them any differently was just… unnatural.

Glaring at the pile of fish with murderous intent, Ash grabbed the laser rifle from her back once more and switched the safety off with a flick of her clawed thumb.

 **"Step back Turian"** snarled Ash savagely, weapon aimed and poised to fire.

Sensing her intent, the Turian grabbed his fish from the puddle of drool and jumped back as the first bolt of blistering hot light slashed through the air. Shielding his eyes against the blinding flashes of red light, Garrus didn't remove his hand until the hissing snap of the laser weapon eventually went silent. Bringing with it an uncomfortable tension in the air as slowly the Turian lowered his hand to inspect the damage.

Where a moment ago a puddle of drool covered fish sat, was now a shallow black crater in the ground with flecks of super liquefied soil still glowing from the attack.

With her rage vented upon the unfortunate fish, the armoured Indominus holstered her weapon and gave a huff of approval at her handwork before strolling off to patrol the perimeter of the clearing. Leaving a very uncomfortable Garrus Vakarian standing there still holding the Palavan fish in his hand.

Waiting until the massive predator was out of ear range, Garrus breathed out a sigh of relief.

"I thought Turian woman were grumpy" muttered the young Turian as he looked at the fish in his hand then towards the large fire pit Ash had constructed earlier that morning.

Nearly an hour later, when the sun was well into the sky and casting its warmth upon the cold shadows of the forest below. Shepard and Book slowly emerged from the confines of the warehouse, both predators were adored in different sets of armour plating that made Garrus wonder just where these Indominus's got their resources from.

Shepard was adorned in the most impressive suit of armour, with exhaust nozzles and humming orbs of point defence lasers covering her hide. The black alpha female was truly a sight to behold in her full suit of armour minus the hip mounted missile pods. Pods that Garrus had personally saw to calibrating the night before and were still undergoing calibration protocols.

Book meanwhile was… less protected than her companions. With a single chest plate protecting her hide, the Tech priest body flickered slightly with the form of a kinetic barrier, her only real form of defence in combat.

Sitting there with a half-eaten charred fish in hand, Garrus once more felt small as the two predators strolled towards him with an air of importance, while off to the side Ash moved closer so she was in hearing range of Shepard's next words.

 **"Okay people listen up, we got a big day ahead of us so pay attention"** announced Shepard loudly as she dropped down to all four limbs.

 **"I want 40% of the herd rounded up from the grazing fields, particularly I want the Cloud mongrels and horn busters, leave the long necks behind they're too slow"** informed Shepard as she began drawing lines in the dirt with a claw, prompting everyone to lean forwards and crane their necks to get a good look at the diagram.

 **"Last I checked the herd was divided between the meadow, river and the valley"** stated Shepard calmly as she looked around at everyone, her hand jabbing at a very poor diagram etched into the dirt below her.

 **"Ash"** Ash perked up at her name.

 **"Gahrus"** Garrus looked surprised but was annoyed his name was pronounced wrong once more.

 **"I want you both to check out the valley and round up what you can. Book and I will check out the river and meet you here"** Shepard jabbed a claw at her diagram, drawing what Garrus assumed to be a symbol of some kind that looked like an 'M' shape.

Both Turian and Indominus alike turned their heads to stare at one another in surprise, before a bitter expression crossed Ash's face and Garrus felt a shiver run down his spine. Shepard was going to get him killed at this rate.

 **"Any questions?"** asked Shepard casually, her eyes looking around at everyone expectantly.

"I got one, why pair me with her?" asked Garrus bluntly, jabbing a claw at Ash as he spoke.

Shepard eyes gleamed briefly with amusement then irritation as she glanced to the side at Book who had oddly remained silent since her outburst that morning. Garrus followed her gaze, and found himself feeling a little unnerved by the way the brown Indominus was occasionally glancing at him as she pretended to be examining the diagram.

Ash however caught on and wanted to yell at Shepard in protest, surely Shepard could take the stupid alien with her and leave her with Book. At least the tech priest was useful in rounding up the herd, Ash doubted the Turian could even keep up with a long neck in the open fields.

Before the Beta could voice her own disapproval, Shepard was speaking once more.

 **"Book and I need to check something out first which leaves only you two, one of whom is ill equipped for Indominus pack warfare …."** Shepard's eyes narrowed for a moment and the alpha female turned her gaze to Book.

 **"Skipper I must disagree!"** snapped Ash in alarm, her eyes glancing down at the stupid alien then back to Shepard.

 **"Ash this is not up for debate, I will not have you wondering around without sufficient backup, Book unlock the infantry heavy weaponry give Gahrus something sturdy"** said Shepard without even glancing at the opposing female.

Garrus wasn't sure how to react to that, Shepard was supplying him with a heavy weapon able to inflict damage another Indominus rex. But why would his kidnappers supply him with a weapon capable of harming them, there was no logic behind this mood except… Indominus pack warfare?

Suddenly the connections fell into place, the packing up of resources, the gathering of what was clearly a food supply and the heavy armour plating all three females wore. It all pointed to one thing, Shepard was retreating from an attack from another pack of Indominus rex's, meaning Garrus was stuck in the crossfire of practically a warzone.

 **"Is that understood Beta?"** growled Shepard savagely, her jaws parting to reveal all of her fangs while the quills on her head and neck perked up making her look intimidating.

Ash took a hesitant step back, head lowering in a submissive manner as Shepard glowered down at her with a murderous gaze. Slowly Shepard expression softened and Garrus noticed that somewhere during this conversation Book had manuvered herself to stand beside Garrus with her posture tense as if ready to spring into action.

 **"** **Yes Skipper I understand"** meekly announced Ash as she shied away from the group, her head held low and quills flat against her skull.

Without a word, Shepard clicked her fangs together and gestured with her head for Garrus to move. Slowly the Turian began to walk towards the warehouse, Book towering above him in a protective manner while Shepard began growling something to Ash once more in an unrecognizable language.

Walking along in silence, Garrus nearly jumped out of his skin when Book finally parted her jaws to speak in a hushed voice.

 **"It's my fault…"** stated Book dully, her body language droopy and eyes glowing with sadness.

"It's not your fault" said Garrus in comfort, voice uneasy as he wrestled with the fact he was now trying to comfort an Indominus rex.

 **"You don't understand, Shepard could smell you on me from last night"** said Book, causing Garrus to look confused. What did smell have to do with the argument outside?

 **"Shepard didn't like it, she doesn't want you around me so she decided to give you to Ash for safe keeping"** explained Book with a sadden expression.

"But Ash hates me, why would Shepard think it's a good idea to keep me with her?" questioned Garrus, eyes staring up at the large predator waiting for an answer.

Book actually chuckled at that, her downed expression lifting just slightly.

 **"Ash was an Alliance Soldier, she is the best hand to hand fighter in the entire pack. When she is given a mission she completes it to the letter"** informed Book with a wave of the hand like this was common news, Garrus wasn't sure if he should be reassured or frighten by this new information.

Garrus didn't ask any more questions, instead he once more thought how a life in C-sec security would have been less life threatening than a prison guard. He also began to wonder why his training and education seemed to miss out on the fact that Wild Indominus's were smart and had access to weapons of war.

The Turians thoughts were interrupted as the duo once more entered the Tech Priest's fabulous workshop, complete with oil slick floor and a sprinkle of tools littering the room fresh from the commotion just mere hours ago.

 **"Right soooo this way!"** exclaimed Book as she looked around the room with uncertainty, her eyes locking onto something in the distance.

"You don't know where it is do you?" muttered Garrus, earning a loud huff of deviance from the Indominus beside him.

Moving stuff aside using her giant sickle like claws, Book carved a path through the messy confines of her workshop until she stumbled upon a large cage like cabinet bolted against a wall.  
From what Garrus could see, the cabinet was some kind of weapon locker with a set of thick chains wrapping around the door handles. Making it near impossible to access the contents inside.

Or so the Turian thought, that was until Book flexed her claws and stabbed them into the cage rather violently. Hooking her claws into the cabinet's metal, the Indominus rex flung her arm backwards, snapping the door off its old rusting hinges and revealing the weaponry inside.

 **"Open sesame… what's that from?"** muttered Book to herself looking confused as she pondered where the quote came from.

Garrus on the other hand was more interested in the cabinets contents, edging forwards the Turian looked inside the weapon locker and was surprised to see several high powered looking firearms sitting in place with yet another chain wrapped around the trigger guard of each weapon.

"What are these?" asked Garrus as he pulled on the chain, eyes dancing between several large barrelled weapons that caught his eye.

Book dropped down to all four of her limbs, hovering her head just above the ground and beside the Turian so she could get a better look inside.  
Humming to herself, Book withdrew her head with a nod of approval.

 **"Two of them are experimental mass accelerators, both .50calibre ordinance launching at around 5000 feet per second, this one on the other hand… that's a semi-automatic 45mm high velocity grenade launcher?"** Book narrowed her eyes as she spoke, an unhappy expression crossing her face as she jabbed a claw towards a large wooden stock weapon.

 **"It was an Ingen experimental weapon, designed for use against…. Us"** Book sounded disturbed by this news, causing Garrus to glance up at her with concern.

"How do you know this stuff?" he asked slowly, cautiously taking a step away from her in case she reacts violently.

Book glanced at him with a dull expression, her fangs clicking slightly as she chewed on her next words.

 **"Tech priest powers"** she said almost playfully with a wink, Garrus felt a little uncomfortable by the reply and instead turned his attention back to the weapons.

Slipping a claw past her companion, Book casually snapped the chain securing the weapons in place and drew back slightly as Garrus pulled out a weapon into the light.

The Turian held the large weapon in both hands, the cold back metal and fragile looking wooden stock giving the firearm an old 20th century appearance.  
Equipped with a large heavy barrel, the weapon was apparently fed with a huge circular cylinder where large calibre ammunition would be housed.

Book looked the weapon over, before snorting in approval. Shepard wanted Garrus to be armed with a large calibre weapon, when now he got one.

"This is a chemical based weapon?" noted Garrus when he saw the rifling groves etched into the end of the barrel.

 **"Gun powder based weaponry, not as lightweight as your mass accelerators but large calibre weapons can carry explosive payloads…. Like this stuff"** mused Book as her claws once more dug into the weapon locker to pull out a large ammunition belt holding over a dozen 45mm grenade canisters.

Garrus took the belt from Books claws, his arm instantly noticing the heavy weight of the ammunition.  
Grunting from the effort, the Turian slung the belt over his head. Securing the ammunition across his shoulder and torso.

Booked cooed softly, eyes sparkling in a playful manner as she looked the small Turian up and down before nodding her head in approval.

But something was amiss, humming to herself in thought. Book narrowed her eyes and tapped a claw against her chin.

"What's wrong?" asked Garrus as he noticed the predators shift in mood, he knew from experience that rapid mood swings were common and often ended very poorly for any unfortunate soul nearby an Indominus when it happened.

The Indominus didn't answer, instead she reared up on her hind legs and charged across the room with an excited roar that made the Turian jump in surprise. Standing there in confusion, Garrus watched as Book scurried around the room tossing stuff aside in search of something.

A few minutes later, the Indominus barked in triumph and skidded to a stop in front of Garrus with two items clasped in her claws.  
What Garrus saw was unmistakable, a can of paint and a paint brush. Sensing the Indominus's intention, Garrus dropped the grenade launcher and bolted for safety.

 **"Get back here!"** yelled Book in alarm, her claws flying out to snatch Garrus up.

"You're not painting me!" cried out Garrus in defiance, a loud crash split the air as Book gave chase and in the process knocked over a crate of ammunition.

To be continued…..

* * *

 **I'm heavily considering trying a different take with the first snippet their of the story... Maybe I should have had some combat in stead? Yes wasn't thought out to well was it sorry.**

 **And apologies for posting so late, I've been busy lately and haven't had much time to write or get online, what more my fabulous editor is busy so don't expect much soon sorry.**

 **Now onto the big questions! Am I moving the story to slowly? Just wondering is all I've written 30 000 words and its all been quiet really.**  
 **And should I be making the chapters longer? its not to confusing for you all right with the dates and stuff?**

 **Another thing, anyone got ideas for predators on other planets that could challenge the Indominus rex? I'm talking things like fresher maws and stuff. I'm asking cause its story related trust me you'll like it.**

 **Short AN today sorry enjoy the story and have a good day.**


	6. Codex

**Terran:**  
The word used to indiscriminately describe the 3 major species of Earth, the word became used after the introduction of the sapient Velociraptor species in late 2050's. Then with the introduction of the Indominus rex in the early 2070's, it became apparent that simple calling Earths government the Sol System Alliance wasn't representing all of the community.

So at the start of a galactic war, the Terran Alliance was forged between the three dominant species of Earth. With all sharing the same home world and genetic traits the word Terran is not uncommon for Earth bourn's to use in 2177.

 **Indominus personality traits:  
** Due to their size, power and ferocity. Most Indominus rex's have an acute sense of superiority over the other sapient races of the universe, this is also partly inherited through the complex mix of DNA that infuses an Indominus's genetic makeup. DNA which includes several highly territorial species and pack hunting races resulting in a stern aggressive outlook and mentality where social positions are earnt through power or intelligence.

It's not uncommon for an Indominus rex to threaten or assert their physical power over another individual, especially if that individual is a smaller species. This is not necessarily an act of violence or hatred as commonly mistaken by council races. Rather its part of the social norms of the Indominus race to assert their power and authority over those they consider weaker or inferior to themselves.

They are also known for having rather violent mood swings and personality disorders from the traumatising experience of their transformation from human to Dinosaur.

 **Alliance / Terran Alliance military:**

The alliance military is unusual in that each major country supplies and equips its own military faction in Alliance territory. Ranging from great tank battalions to small Special Forces units, the Alliance military is considered by some to be a rag tag collection of Earths major military powers all working in coordination to protect Earths resources and externa assets.

True military uniformity only happened after 2069, with the introduction of the new standard issue Alliance exoskeleton battle armour and early back mounted power source mounted Laser Rifles. However this was only achieved in several major infantry armies, a variety of vehicles and weaponry were still used by other countries such as the German Leopard tanks and the M5 Abram battle tanks.

Gun powder based weapons and crude Mass Accelerators were still commonly used by Alliance personal even after the introduction of portable laser weaponry, an aspect that infuriated the Salarian unions who had spent decades trying to design a power source small enough to use in their short range laser weapons.

 **Alliance Laser weaponry:**  
The concept of a small hand held laser weapon had been a circulation within the galactic community for centuries ever since the invention of the ship mounted 'GUARDIAN' laser batteries used on council military vessels.

While the technology itself had advanced over the years to the point that hand held laser guns could be used effectively for military style operation. The issue however was the power source for such a weapon were either incredibly heavy or only last a handful or shots before becoming depleted. An aspect that most militaries considered impractical compared to the limitless ammunition supply of Mass Accelerator weapons.

The Alliance / Terran Alliance however solved this issue with the invention of potable light weight Dark Matter generators, capable of producing the power requirements for limitless laser fire. Early models of Alliance laser weaponry placed the dark matter generator on the users back with a cable attaching to the weapon being used. Later models had the Dark Matter reactor integrated into the weapon itself allowing all personnel to quickly utilise the firearm.

To most Council races this achievement in human technology was seen as an insult, despite humanity already using primitive 'GUARDIAN' style laser turrets before introduction to the galactic community, most races saw the Alliance's actions as a new upstart species meddling with technology it was too young to possess. An outlook that the Salarian union strongly supported seconded to the Asari republic.

The Turian Hierarchy on the other hand continued to support the Alliance's military development, keen to possibly buy or co develop its own laser weaponry from shared Alliance research.

 **Earth sapient species:**

 **Humans** : Originally the dominant member of the Earths sapient races, Humanity were a territorial social / pack like species with a natural born gift to think outside the box as some would say. While not as powerful or protected as some of the galactic community races. Humans were respected for their high endurance and ability to outwit the most cunning of species in the galaxy.

Seen by many as primitive upstarts in the early years, Humanity were often criticized or feared due to their rapid military expansion and aggressive tendencies to their own privacy and possessions. As a Turian once put it, 'breaking into a human's home was like jumping into a Varrens den, it's a bad idea'. Meaning simply that invading what humans perceive as their territory without permission is seen as an act of violence and said human will respond with violence if necessary.

 **Velociraptors:** An extinct race that died out millions of years ago, Velociraptors were heavily genetically altered creatures modified originally for use as a theme park attraction at Jurassic Park. Known for their intelligence and aggressive behaviour, Velociraptors or simple 'Raptors' are powerful pack hunting predators naturally equipped with lethal claws and fangs that can rip apart all but the strongest of council species.

Around the 2040's to 2060's the corporation known as Ingen began illegal genetic experimentation upon the Velociraptor species in the hope of making biological weapons of war, using human DNA Ingen was able to make incredibly smart variant of the Velociraptor species. So smart were these new raptors that the clever species successfully escaped the Ingen facility they were being experiment upon and went to the media for protection.

Outraged by this illegal act the Alliance placed heavy fines upon Ingen and declared the Velociraptors a protected and endangered species. Many years later the Velociraptors number in the hundreds of thousands and have successfully integrated themselves into human society. They can still be seen today in 2177 living with humans and various species alike.

 **Indominus rex:** The words translating into the Latin meaning of 'Untameable King' the Indominus rex is a very aggressive and powerful race originating in the genetic Labourites of Jurassic world between the year 2013-2015.  
Engineered to be the perfect apex predator, the Indominus rex disappeared during the Jurassic world incident of 2015.

Decades later the species resurface through a mutation in humanities genetic coding, at the start of 2070 the galactic community was introduce to the Indominus rex… And all its terrifying glory. Mutating through an unknown genetic material in humanities DNA, the Indominus species are known across the galaxy as being delusional and insane humans forced into the body of an apex predator.

Many horror stories exist around this species as their only known for their actions of the Dark Matter war and various disasters across outer colony worlds. The Indominus rex's are considered by scientist to be one of the Universes most deadly land predators in existence.

 **Indominus physical characteristics:  
** Possessing thick muscular bodies and sturdy bones reinforced with naturally occurring carbon fibres, an Indominus rex is a powerhouse of bone breaking, flesh ripping potential allowing them to easily crash through various buildings and structures with ease and without harm.

To protect themselves from the teeth and claws of other Indominus, bony spiked plates known as osteoderms line the Indominus body from neck to tail. Providing protection along the Indominus upper neck, back and tail. This natural armour is strong enough to repel small arms fire and withstand the bite force of other Indominus rex's.

An Indominu's skull is curved in shape around the muzzle, with the jaws similar to a crocodiles in appearance. An Indominus rex is known for its unhealthy collection of crowded teeth that cause discomfort, makes eating difficult or may result in various infections that can be fatal.

While an Indominus head can be terrifying to gaze upon in person, Indominus rex's have a small flexible range of facial expressions and body language to use despite lacking the ability to smile and such. Nestled between the two eye ridge horns of an Indominus rex is what's easily mistaken as a third horn, but in fact this lump is a collection of powerful muscles used to raise and lower a sharp spiky proto feather lining the back of the Indominus head which is used to express body language.

Due to their human heritage, Indominus have a rather upright posture when standing still or fighting, using their huge tail as a counter balance an Indominus can rear its head high into the air which is often seen as a display of power or authority over others. Also transcending from their human heritage are the Indominus's long human like arms, equipped with long sickle like claws that can gut most council species. These deadly hands have similar range of motion to a human appendage and are highly flexible in use, a factor that allows an Indominus to perform many feats other dinosaur like species can hardly imagine.

 **Nanite infused ballistic fibers:  
** Under the Citadel council law the use of nanite or micro machine technology is strictly illegal across the glaxy due it its unstable and dangerous nature discovered in previous experimentations. The Terran Alliance in late 2071 began using nanite technology in a new step in armour technology, by infusing these micro machines into the laminated ballistic fibers of standard body armour material.

While to most the concept is skeptical, the use of nanites in armour plating serves strictly as a self repairing mechanism and minor wound regeneration for long term combat situations. Powered from Dark Matter reactors, these nanites serve as a repair units for armour systems helping to maintain the armour integrity while also helping to preserve the various pieces of technology attached to the ballistic fibers such as servos and dark matter reactors.

However, these nanites if incorrectly maintain, can result in horrific mutations to long term users. Corrupt programing can result in the nanites mistaking the users flesh for damaged material and begin a process of painful infumenent with ballistic fibres, often resulting in either death or amputation of limbs.

 **Indominus Armour types**

 **Basic plate armour:  
**

The lightest and most common set of armour found on Earth, these suits of armour hold an 18th century medieval deign of over lapping plates comprised from hard nanite infused fibre armour. Allowing full range of unhindered movement, these suits offer basic physical protection in combat as well as employing both an in build kinetic barrier system and point defence laser for combat.

With a heads up display that assist in utilising Alliance hand held weaponry, these suits of armour are powered by a dark matter reactor that powers all electrical system in the suit. Disabling this reactor renders the armour plating virtually useless as the nanite infused armour plates require an electrical stimulant to repair plates that are damaged in combat.

 **Biotic armour:  
** Only those with biotic potential can utilise this kind of armour system, incorporating hidden control panels that can only be activated with biotic energy. Biotic armour is unique as it's the only armour system that incorporates dark matter engines to assist with agility. While these engines cannot move a full grown Indominus rex, a biotic Indominus can lower their molecular weight and allow brief periods of hovering and rapid movement in battle.

These suits also incorporate a greater number of point defence lasers, using a mixture of 5-7 laser orbs for defence against both missiles and ground personnel. Biotic armour is more protected against missiles than Basic armour that has a maximum of 3 defence laser.

Biotic armour can be fitted with mounted weaponry aimed and fired via biotic impulses into suit control panels.

 **Weapon Specialist:  
** Literary a walking weapon platform, the Weapon Specialist armour incorporates an exoskeleton like design utilising high powered hydraulic pistons for stability and strength. By using arm mounted joysticks and a set of 3 different triggers upon each hand, a weapon specialist is only limited in destructive potential by their own size and available weapon mount points on their armour.

Using dark matter reactor for power, a Weapon specialist has powerful kinetic barriers to protect itself from harm while also a layer of armour plating almost 90mm in thickness. A vast improvement over the 30mm and 50mm armour protection granted to other Indominus armour systems.

Using an advance yet simple network of micro cameras and targeting software, a single Weapon Specialist can discharge 6 different weapons onto 2 targets at ranges from 50-1000 meters.

The only down side to this suit is lack of agility/speed and no in built defence against missile based weaponry unless defence lasers are mounted to weapon points reducing firepower.

 **Indominus weaponry**

 **Laser weapons:**  
Considered by some in the galaxy to be one of greatest technological innovations of the Alliance, laser rifles are the primary weapons of both human and Indominus alike on the battlefield. Large and heavy, these light based weapons use a dark matter reactor to grant almost limitless ammunition supply in exchange for a total weight of 4.7kg for a human rifle.

Adopted by Alliances forces for its military personnel, the Laser weaponry effectiveness lies within its ability to bypass kinetic barriers and its unrivalled accuracy efficiency over mass accelerator weaponry. However weapons on this scale can only reach out to a maximum range of 300 meters, unlike the 1000km range of the projectile based mass accelerator weapons used by the Council races.

 **Dakka:**  
Crude and simple chemical based firearms using a primitive form of gunpowder, Dakka's were invented by the Indominus species on Earth for the use of both hunting and fighting creatures equal to or larger than themselves. With large calibre bullets being driven at slow velocities, Dakka's are loud inaccurate weapons generally suited for close range combat.

The only perks of these weapons are their ability to be easily made by the weakest of tech priest or engineers from available resources. The dakka also have the advantage over the famous laser rifles for having the ability to inflict significant damage to unarmoured creatures, while the laser rifle is limited to inflicting shallow burn wounds that barely reach internal organs.

 **Auto cannons:**  
Ranging from calibres 15mm to 105mm, the auto cannon is the weapon of choice for many Indominus packs on Earth for their availability of ammunition scattered across the planet.

Generally used for Weapon Specialist armour or Biotic armour as mounted weaponry, these autocannons are effective at firing high explosive projectiles down range with a mixed range of results depending on calibres.

Small calibres like the 15mm have a high rate of fire while larger 105mm autocannons are slow to automatically reload and are often used for long range artillery.

 **Missiles:**  
Alliance missile weaponry unique in the aspect that it's the only form of missiles that can easily be converted into rocket based munition by a simple flip of the switch. Large long range missiles are rare on Earth with those left being either captured by the Turian Hierarchy or in control of powerful clans.

Small short range missiles/rockets are common place however, being easy to find in Ingen and military stockpiles these missiles are generally a meter long and 88mm in diameter. Carrying shaped high explosive payloads used to punch through over 100mm of armour plating, these missiles are favoured by packs for warfare purposes as they can significantly wound another Indominus rex during combat.

The downside to these weapons are that their guidance system requires constant calibration to fire accurately in combat, most Indominus lack the skill to calibre this computer system and instead rely on point and shoot function turning their missiles into basic straight flying rockets.

 **Anti Indominus weaponry:**

 **Council weapons**  
 **Hierarchy Light machinegun:**

A rather backwards designed Mass Acclerator weapon intended for siege warfare, the Hierarchy Light machinegun is a coolant cooled weapon resembling early 20th century water cooled machineguns and using the same principle to prevent the overheating of key mechanical systems of the weapon.

Briefly used during the long war of attrition against the Terran Alliance, the Hierarchy LMG is considered by some to be a collector's piece, while Krogan Mercenaries favour the weapon for its high rate of continuous fire.

 **Alliance weapons:  
** **.50 Mass accelerator** : Terran Alliance Mass Accelerator technology was rather primitive and crude in design and function, utilising minor explosive charges to accelerate a projectile. Mass effect field were used to increase the projectiles velocity to unimaginable velocities granting a small calibre rifle the kinetic energy to take down large and dangerous game.

The downside to such large calibres and gunpowder primed weapons, was the tendency for the weapons to have near uncontrollable recoil when firing.

* * *

 **This is my attempt at some Codex entries... Hope I built up some background information this stuff is spread out across multiple files on my PC.**

 **What do you think? is it useful in any way and what should I probably focus more on?**


	7. Chapter 6

**Response to reviews:**

 **Jaron Zavier: I already answered your question in private but I'll put it out for other people, the average human is around 6foot to 6'6 feet tall. This is a similar size to most of the other species apart from Krogan, Volus and so on. Basically an Indominus rex average around 13-14 feet tall at the him as the head rises and lowers changing height.**

 **WarFlower: DEF theresher maw? Umm defeat the thresher maw? *shrug* there is a scene in the near future where Indominus VS Thresher maw.**

 **Guest: Jade the Dragon was mostly a one shot to be honest, I wrote stuff down rapidly as it filled my head. I don't know how the series goes or ever watched the show so I felt unqualified to continue the fic but it was fun while it lasted. Sorry if I disappointed you...**

 **Enjoy the chapter and warning, violent contents ahead.**

* * *

 **Sol System  
2167 (10 years ago)  
Earth  
Regional rain forest Border territory  
1000 hours' local time**

 **"Get the fuck out of here you trash!"** screamed Shepard with a roar of anger as blood weep from her wound and sparks flew from her damaged armour.

The fearless form of the alpha female stood tall and powerful with her foot perched upon the scorched corpse of an Indominus rex. Smoking billowing in the air, Shepard watched with burning red eyes as the surviving members of the rival pack retreated into their own territory.

Bringing up the rear of the formation, was a blue armoured Indominus rex glowing with biotic energy and outfitted with similar armour to Shepard herself. Looking back over his shoulder, the Indominus snarled at her before spitting blood on the ground.

Alenko knew when he was beaten, Shepard had tossed his pathetic ass around the clearing for over an hour while the battle raged on. Corpses littered the scorched earth and cannon shells were scattered all over the place. The crude form of Dakka auto cannons sat beside their fallen wielders while Shepard's pack bore the impact points from multiple weapons used in the battle.

Glancing down at the torn armour of Alenko's fallen Beta, Shepard snorted in anger and promptly crushed the dead predator's skull beneath her armoured foot. Bone and gore splattered across the ground in a sickly manner, while the Alpha female herself turned about to cast back at the battle field.

Shepard eyes softened as her sights fell upon a depressing scene, while the invaders had been driven away. Shepard pack had suffered a crude price for freedom and victory.

 **"Shhhh stay still Jenkins I got you… BOOK where's that medical supplies!"** cried out Ash's voice as she hovered protectively over the bloodied form of a small Indominus male.

Around 14 feet tall at the hip and stretching nearly 40 feet long, Jenkin's was one of the tallest, but skinniest members of Shepard's pack. Being naturally born an Indominus Jenkins had lived a relatively short life of just over 50 years and been a part of Shepard's pack for a mere 5 years.

He was a good fighter, level headed if not childish. Jenkin's had hung around Ash as her personal partner in crime and helped to ensure the safety of the pack for all those 5 years, a job the youngster may just pay with his life.

 **"Ash.. it"** gasped Jenkin's, blood oozing from his jaws while a stream of crimson spewed from the cannon holes littering his hide and chest.

Some of the shells had failed to penetrate Jenkin's naturally tough hide, but between the claw marks slashed against the vulnerable part of his neck and the gaping holes in his chest. The young male didn't have a high chance of walking away from this with his life.

 **"Shhh hang in their buddy I got you!"** said Ash as she wrapped her arms around Jenkin's body almost like a hug in comfort.

 **"Book where that medical supplies!"** roared Ash, her voice trembling slightly with nerves and sadness.

Jenkin's coughed violently, his body spasm in pain causing more blood to gush from his wounds and pool into a puddle around his form.

 **"It hurtssss"** hissed the wounded male, his hands clawing at the blood soaked soil in pain.

 **"I know it does buddy just hang on a little longer help is coming"** said Ash hastily, her claws patting Jenkins armour as she continued to try and comfort him.

Looking around, the Beta searched for something to cover Jenkins wounds. But all she could see was blackened soil and crumbling concrete.  
Utterly desperate, Ash shoved both her hands over the largest wounds on Jenkins chest to try stem the blood flow.

 **"I got you!"** said Ash her voice cracking slightly as she spoke.

Jenkins turned his sky blue eyes upon her, slowly his trembling hand reached out and grasped her wrist.

 **"Di…did we win?"** asked the dying male softly, Ash nodded her head rapidly. Face twisted with panic as Book was still nowhere in sight.  
 **  
"** **We got them we won were all going home"** rambled away Ash, Shepard slowly drew closer. Her face expressionless as she stared down at her dying pack member.

 **"You got them Jenkins, you did well trooper I'm proud of you"** said Shepard loudly as she dropped low to the ground, muzzle hovering near the males face.

Jenkins blinked a few times, before weakly nodding his head a calmer expression crossing his face. It was then that Book charged onto the scene, her body covered in blood and claw wounds the Tech priest was carrying a large rolled up tarp in her claws that she practically hurled at the ground.

 **"Move move Ash open the med bag I'm removing his armour!"** barked Book with a sense of urgency in her voice, both Alpha and Beta jumped aside as the Tech Priest almost flung herself onto Jenkins form.

With nimble claws and Book tore the chest plate for Jenkins chest, revealing the true extent of the damage caused by the cannon shells.  
Beside the Tech priest, Ash was unrolling the tarp revealing an assortment of medical supplies and huge rolls of cloth.

Having a good view of the wounds, Ash knew exactly what to do as she began rubbing wet sanitised cloths around to the wounds to clean them. Jenkins flinched and groaned in protest, his chest heaving with each laboured breath and blood continuously flowing from the wounds.

Ash trembling claws cleaned and pressed clods of crimson soaked bandages against the largest wound. Her jaws trembling as she tried to stop the bleeding, but nothing she did seemed work.

 **"Ash"** wheezed the young Indominus weakly.

 **"Shut up you're going to be okay!"** snapped Ash in reply, her claws reaching for a new pad of bandages to press against his wounds.

Ash new that the bullets must still be inside Jenkins chest meaning she needed to clean and remove the projectiles, but she didn't have the right tools to do that.

 **"Book help me!"** snarled Ash as she looked away from her fallen comrade, but Book was leaning against Shepard.

 **"Ash….. I'm… sorry"** wheezed Jenkins one last time, his claws once more grasped Ash's and gave them a soft squeeze.

Letting his head slump against the ground, Jenkin closed his eyes and a moment later. Ash felt the Indominus claws go limp in her hands, Jenkin's chest stopped rising and the blood slowly stopped flowing. Ash stood there, face distraught while her bloody claws grasped Jenkins lifeless hand.

 **"NO!"**

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
Earth  
Regional rain forest  
1 day since Vakarians kidnapping  
**  
Ash shuddered and gripped her rifle a little tighten between her claws, muscles trembling beneath her armour. The pink scaled Indominus rex leaned against a tree for support as she suppressed the sadness swelling up inside her. It'd been 10 years since Alenko had tried to attack their pack, the stupid young male had charged in with 8 rex's from his pack. All armed to the teeth with weaponry but practically no armour plating, a factor that had cost Alenko 5 of his pack mates.

Gritting her teeth, Ash remembered the energetic youngling when he first came into their little pack.  
Back then Ash herself had only just become the Beta of the group, a position she carried with pride and authority.

Shepard entrusted her with security, a position that too this day Ash had kept and ensured by making sure her skills were sharp and her accuracy deadly. As a soldier Ash knew that in war people died, no matter how well equipped or trained people on both sides would die. But after so many years since the war, the Indominus had forgotten that key lesson until she saw young Jenkins bleeding form.

Ash turned her gaze downwards towards the large block of concrete speared into the ground, upon the stones surface for all to see for years to come. Were the following words.

 _Here lies Richard Jenkins  
May this proud warrior rest in peace  
After defending his family to the bitter end  
2110 - 2167_

Taking a deep breath, Ash pulled her gaze away from the grave stone. Her mind spinning with painful memories and clouded images of others both human and Indominus alike dying before her eyes.

Cautiously walking out of some bushes, Garrus Vakarian stopped and stared at the emotional predator towering above him before slowly setting his own eyes upon the gravestone. The young Turian didn't believe that something as terrifying and monstrous could really understand remorse or sorrow, but standing there so close to Ash.

Garrus moved closer to the grave stone, his Omni-tool translating the words etched into the surface so he understood there meaning.  
It was actually hard for the Turian to believe, that anything could kill an Indominus rex. But that was like saying a Krogan was immortal.

Everything in the universe can die, no matter how strong or terrifying everyone could be killed or mortally wounded. Even the deadly Indominus rex was killable, and after seeing the weaponry they possessed Garrus could only imagine how violent Indominus warfare must be.

Standing there in silence, both Indominus and Turian alike didn't utter a word until Ash glanced down at her companion and once more and noticed the new addition to his armour.

 **"You look ridiculous"** huffed Ash dismissively as she cast one last look at the grave stone before ushering the Turian away.

"It was Books idea not mine…" muttered Garrus in reply, his eyes glancing over his shoulder.

Book had thought it'd be a wonderful idea to paint the packs symbol upon his armour, a symbol that was basically the letter 'N' beside the human number '7' in bright red paint. Unfortunately for Garrus, blue armour and red paint clashed horribly, giving the Turian a goofy appearance from behind that was rather amusing for the female predator.

It was so amusing, that Ash hadn't felt the urge to eat the alien since that morning little incident where Shepard had enforced her authority. Thinking back to it made Ash shudder a little with fear, things could have ended a lot worse during that argument.

"Sssssssooooo… How far are we from this valley?" asked Garrus changing subjects, Ash narrowed her eyes slightly at the alien as he spoke but composed herself before answering.

 **"Were actually closer than you'd think, the Valley is just past this ridge here and through the trees…. Just keep an eye out"** warned Ash as she stomped past the small alien.

"Keep an eye out for what?" questioned Garrus, his fingers tightening over the form of the grenade launcher in his hands.

 **"Were not far from Alenko's territory, if you see an Indominus that's not Book or Shepard, shoot it"** growled Ash in a rather aggressive tone, snarling to herself the Indominus snapped her jaws around a tree branch and promptly tore it off with a simple flick of the head.

Garrus paused momentarily, eyes glancing back at the grave marker behind him. The Turian knew it wasn't a coincidence that this grave was so close to a rival packs territory. From Ash's agitated state and what he read on the grave stone, Garrus could only assume that there was some bloody history between Shepard's pack and Alenko's pack.

"Wont that start a conflict between your packs if I shoot another Indominus?" questioned Garrus cautiously, his eyes staring up at the Indominus waiting for a reply.

 **"Pffft, border skirmish happen all the time. Were surrounded on all sides by rival packs all of whom want our territory"** stated Ash dismissively as she crouched down slightly and offered an open hand for the Turian to climb onto.

Ash wasn't going to wait around for the Turian, it was faster for her to carry the stupid alien than wait for him to catch up every few steps.  
Garrus didn't need an invitation, slinging his weapon over his shoulder the Turian easily clambered onto Ash hand and held on for dear life as he was lifted into the air.

"What's so valuable about your territory?" asked Garrus as Ash began to stroll through the forest, easily covering triple the distance Garrus could walk with a single stride.

 **"Shepard carved her entire territory by defeating the other packs, each pack has lost land and resources to her over the years and made a lot of enemies in doing so"** explained Ash giving the Turian more insight into the packs history and current dilemma.

"How big is a normal pack?" asked Garrus as a thought crossed his mind, so far he'd only seen a pack consisting of 3 Indominus rex's, but he had a suspicion that this number varied greatly.

Ash paused as she thought about the question, taking several long steps in silence. The Indominus nodded her head upon reaching a conclusion to something and opened her jaws.

 **"Between 4 and 9 members"** Ash sounded quite confident in her response.

This revelation gave Garrus pause as he thought about the situation, he was in a pack of 3 Indominus all heavily armed and supplied. If there were more packs like this one than he could be dealing with nearly 9 Indominus all armed in a similar manner, leading to the question how had Shepard pack survived for so long against such numbers?

As if reading his mind, Ash glanced at him from the corner of her helmet before parting her jaws to speak once more.

 **"Were better supplied weaponry wise than other packs"**

"Is that meant to reassure me or something?" grumbled Garrus in reply, Ash snorted and turned her focus straight ahead.

 **"I don't really care I was just making conversation"** stated Ash dully.

Garrus shook his head, and wondered if Indominus's all had a distinct liking for their own voice. Because for an ambush predator they seemed to really talk a lot and very loudly at that.

Meanwhile, several kilometres away near a running river of cool refreshing water bristling with marine life. The armoured forms of Shepard and Book strolled along a dirt path carved into the forest, their armour clicking and rattling slightly with each powerful step.

Birds chittered and chirped a loud warning into the air as the predators strolled along the trail, their eyes locked ahead and claws flexed in anticipation for action. Powerful legs pounded the ground launching the 9 odd tonne carnivores at a slow jog of 15mph.

As the Alpha female and her subordinate followed the river path, Book was suddenly struck by something that been playing on her mind since the day before.

It involved Shepard herself, and most importantly her unusual behaviour since Garrus showed up in the pack. Book couldn't help but notice the way Shepard looked at the small Turian, with a calm soft expression and then there was the way she was treating him.

Book was pretty sure you kept prisoners in a cell or cage to prevent them running away, but as of yet Shepard hadn't placed the Turian in such a confine nor did she restrict his free will to escape. Not that there was anywhere to run too, Book herself had deactivated any form of homing device in the Turians armour when they kidnapped him at M15.

Then there was the whole arming their prisoner, which was a really bad idea to give a captive a weapon capable of harming the captor for obvious reason. Yet Shepard didn't seem all concerned by the matter, and if Shepard wasn't concerned that meant she knew something that reassured her nothing bad was going to happen.

 **"Shepard?"** asked Book hesitantly, claws rubbing against her hands in a nervous manner.

 **"Yes Book"** replied Shepard dully, her eyes not even glancing back at the unsettled Tech priest.

 **"Can we talk…. About Garrus?"** asked Book in a hopeful manner, quills perking slightly along her head and neck as she spoke.

Shepard stopped dead in her tracks, causing Books nose to bump against Shepard's tail in the process. Startled, the Tech priest took several steps back in case Shepard lunged at her without warning.

 **"Hmmmm if we must, what troubles you?"** said Shepard calmly, her head tilting to the side to stare over her shoulder.

 **"Well it's err…. He's a prisoner right?"** the word spilt from her jaws before she could stop herself, and the Tech priest stared at Shepard nervously waiting for a reaction.

 **"Prisoner, guest, intruder? Use whatever word you like Book"** the Alpha female replied with a shrug of her armoured shoulders.

 **"** **Sooo if he's a prisoner, shouldn't we be holding him in a cell or something?"** Book took a step forward, head raising slightly and tilting to the side in a quizzical manner to emphasise her question.

Shepard looked away, eyes scanning the clearing briefly before the Indominus rex slowly turned around on the spot to completely face Book with a soft sigh.

 **"Garrus cell is the forest, the kids smart he knows his chances of surviving out her lie with us. Aliens don't do well in our ecosystems, to many predators and carnivorous plants… Don't get me started on some of the poisons and toxins that could probably kill them as well"** said Shepard in an almost cheerful manner, Book was actually a little surprised by how happy Shepard sounded as she spoke.

But she did have a point, Book could name over a dozen native plants that could kill or poison their Turian companions, there was also parasites. The odd Batarian smuggler or two and of course other Indominus rex's. Shepard was right Garrus was already in a cell, one he couldn't survive without their help.

 **"This is why you're the Alpha, you're deviously clever"** said Book with a shudder, sometimes Shepard was a little too scary even by Indominus standards.

Shepard chuckled in a sinister manner, earning Book to chuckle nervously in reply as she took another cautious step backwards.

 **"Thank you Book, any more questions before we proceed?"** asked Shepard in an amused manner while raising an eye ridge at the nervous Tec priest.

Book screwed up her face in thought, tongue dancing on a rather dangerous question that had been bugging her all day. But was it worth the risk of an angry biotic Shepard tossing her into the river?

 **"Why are you wearing perfume?"** Shepard actually recoiled in shock at the question, her eyes snapping wide in horror while her jaws fell open showing her fangs.

 **"It's no…you see I….."** Book blinked in shock as she watched her fearless alpha suddenly fumble over her own words while she looked around the clearing with embarrassment etched into her body language.

 **"Maybe I just wanted to smell nice!"** eventually barked Shepard defensively as she spun around on the spot and resumed walking at a jog like pace.

Book stifled her laughter and hastily jogged after the flustered alpha female as she darted off down the forest trail.

* * *

 **Elsewhere  
Indominus holding facility M12  
Aircraft hangar facility  
**  
The massive form of the Indominus rex known as Dr Chakwas hummed softly to herself in thought as she raised her left arm, her dark grey eyes studying the cold protective material covering her forearm with a criticizing gaze like a jeweller examining a precious stone.

Narrowing her eyes, Chakwas right arm slowly rose into the air. Extending a single deadly sickle claw towards her armoured limb, the Indominus rex gently flicked a switch on the protective material causing massive spike to launch itself out of the gauntlet like a bullet.

But instead of flying across the room, the spike make several clicking sounds as it locked itself in place. Revealing itself to be not a solid piece of cold metal, but a long hollow needle like device.

Snorting to herself, the powerful carnivore adjusted her gaze. Eyes following the thick flexible yet armoured tubes running up her arm and over her shoulder to connect to a large machine attached to her back.

Chakwas was familiar with the unusual set up, with the device itself on her back being a protective casing for a valuable medical substance only the system Alliance could produce during the Dark matter wars.

Ironically called Medi-gel, this human made synthetic substance was a clever combination of programed genetic material and medical technology produced by a company known as Ingen.

Working as both a clotting agent, sterilise gel, painkiller and stimulating tissue regrowth. Medi-gel could increase a soldier's chance of surviving battlefield wounds by 40%, while also reducing recovery time by a solid 20% in battlefield situation. It was also the one thing that Dr Chakwas was missing in her small arsenal of medical supplies.

Sighing to herself, the Indominus rex flicked another switch on her gauntlet causing the massive spike like needle to snap back into her weapon and out of sight.

Off to the side of the room, General Victus stood tall and confident as he observed the Indominus rex at work. It'd taken some careful negotiations and talking to the right people to get his hands on the Chakwas combat equipment,

Comprised of several plates of illegal nanite infused synthetic fibres and ballistic resistant metal. Chakwas so called 'medical armour' was a lightweight design specifically engineered to fit her large powerful body. Fitted with its own Dark matter reactor and powerful kinetic barriers capable of shrugging off cannon fire, Chakwas armour was sufficient to say adequate protection considering the non-combat operation they were about to undertake.

Having her entire torso and back covered in armour, a majority of Chakwas head, neck and limbs were still vulnerable to harm as well as the underside of her long thick tail.

But that didn't seem to bother the Indominus rex as she continued to examine herself and adjust her equipment. Chakwas wasn't the only one gearing up for the task ahead, as the elderly Turian turned his eyes to the more normal size members of his current squad members.

Imported all the way from M15, General Victus had manage to get his seasoned field officers and personal transported to M12 for this special unofficial mission.

He'd already falsified the papers and bribed several high up personal at the facility to gain clearance for this operation, with everyone taking part being on a need to know basis to reduce the chances of being caught. The Generals own field team didn't even know what was going on, but his men trusted him enough to just follow orders and not ask questions.

Or so he thought.

Unaware to the General, several of his soldiers were unsettled by all the secrecy and back room dealing their supposed leader was doing. Some began to question his motives.

"He's going on a suicide mission I'm telling you" whispered a rather young dark skinned Turian as he inserted clean cooling liquid into a large circular cylinder that was attached via a tube to a rather powerful looking Mass Accelerator.

"Don't be ridiculous, if this was a suicide mission we'd know about it… No this is something else" muttered another Turian wearing a fully enclosed environmental helmet to conceal his face.

"Something else?" whispered an Asari, her hands loading several giant tranquiliser projectiles into the magazine of her weapon.

The faceless Turian gestured over his shoulder at the intimidating bulk of the Indominus rex calling itself Dr Chakwas, the Asari shivered slightly as she once more laid eyes upon the truly giant predator.  
She'd seen plenty of Indominus's up close and in person over the years working with General Victus, but being so closed to an unshackled one that was over 18 feet tall was beginning to terrify her.

"It talks, the mindless beast can talk" said the faceless Turian in a calm emotionless voice.

"They can always talk, always full of rubbish and insults you know that" spat the dark skinned Turian as he attached the cylinder of cooling liquid to his back.

"No I mean it…she can talk normally, it's smarter than the rex's we've fought before" elaborated the faceless Turian as he glanced over his shoulder at Chakwas.

This information made the other two go dead silent, face twisted in concern and disbelief the Asari and young Turian fixed their gaze on the unshackled Indominus rex.

"Just how smart are we talking?" asked the dark skinned Turian, his eyes narrowed in a dangerous manner like he was sighting in his next victim to kill.

"To smart" said the faceless Turian, the Asari shuddered at the news.

She knew firsthand what an Indominus rex could do with just a little concentration and motivation, she'd seen entire platoons of infantry get wiped out by the giant merciless carnivores. She watched friends and comrades be devoured by those fang filled jaws and heard the screams of pain as people were broken by the flick of a powerful tail or slash of the claws, to think that there was such a predator that could think like them. The thought made the Asari blood run cold.

"Wait what's the general doing?" asked the dark skinned Turian as he spotted Victus himself walking towards the Indominus rex.

"Shit quick get ready to back hi.." began the Asari before a hand well upon her shoulder.

All three soldiers looked back and were surprised to see their second in command standing there in her heavy armour, Daells red painted face looked calm. While her eyes bore a hint of annoyance as she kept her hand on the Asari's shoulder preventing her from moving.

Just by looking at her face, the soldiers knew Daell was seriously mad about something. And that her anger was currently directed towards them.

"Stand down, Victus knows what he's doing…. Not that we can do anything against those barriers if things go wrong" remarked the Asari commando, her face trying to hide her own nerves so she didn't aggravate her squad mates.

Daell knew from training and combat experience than an Indominus's kinetic shields or barriers, were near impenetrable up front even with the most powerful Mass Accelerators. That didn't mean they were invincible however, as extensive combat trials had proven over the last 100 years.

The trick was to hammer the Indominus's barriers from multiple direction with rapid firing weapons, this caused the Indominus's computer or natural instincts to intensify their barriers in the direction of the immediate incoming fire, causing openings to appear in their barrier that a well place shell can slip through and harm the Indominus.

Daell knew the trick worked, having faced down wild biotic Indominus in the past, that didn't mean she was tempted to test the power of Dr Chakwas barriers by aggravating her with trigger happy soldiers.

Victus on the other hand had other matter on his mind, strolling up to the occupied Indominus rex. The elderly Turian coughed slightly to clear his throat and gain the attention of the massive female predator.

 **"You have my thanks General Victus, I honestly didn't think you'd be able to get possession of my old equipment"** said Chakwas with a slight nod of the head in thanks.

"It was difficult, but mind telling me where you got this so called Medical armour?" asked General Victus, his eyes wondering over the protective plates covering the Indominus's hide.

Chakwas chuckled softly in a dark manner at the question, her eyes staring across the room in a lost manner as she recalled the adventure she undertaken to recover this very suit of armour.

 **"It was rather recently and on this very planet"** remarked Chakwas in a fond manner, a claw resting against her chin in thought as she remembered the event.

 **"Mordin and I were doing some… investigation into the developing culture of my species, along the way we got drawn into a conflict between two clans of intelligent rex's who were fighting over the control of a major trading route"** informed Chakwas, her eyes soft for a moment until she noticed the look of disbelief on Victus's face.

"You expect me to believe theirs entire clans of you fighting wars without us knowing?" asked Victus bluntly, his eyes staring at her sternly.

 **"Your leaders know this, they just choose to ignore it because it doesn't affect the galactic community"** stated Chakwas dully, her shoulders shrugging to emphasise her point while Victus narrowed his eyes.

 **"Anyhow during the skirmishes that took place, the Alpha female of the clan we were with got fatally injured and would have died… If not for Mordin"** Chakwas looked across the room, her eyes locking onto the bright orange skinned Salarian standing over a table on the opposite side of the room.

"He saved her and they gave you this as a reward?" assumed Victus, his eyes only glancing at the Salarian scientist.

Chakwas gave a stern nod of the head in confirmation, her eyes still fixed on the white lightly armoured form of Mordin Solus.

Waiting a moment to see if the Indominus would say anything else. Victus gave a loud sigh to gain her attention once more as he mused over how to present the Indominus was an uncomfortable piece of information. The elderly Turian knew that Rex's like Chakwas weren't fond of tight spaces, nor did they do well when that tight space was also filled with other people.

"So I have arrange a transport freighter to give us all a lift to the location I captured Shepard's companion…" this got Chakwas full attention as a menacing hiss escaped her jaws and her eyes narrowed with murderous intentions.

Lowering herself onto all four limbs so she was almost at eye level with the Turian general, Chakwas next words were cold as night and her breath as putrid as a rotting corpse.

 **"If you think I'm getting on your putrid flying cage, then you are sorely mistaken my little morsel"** she hissed through her fangs, causing a slight shiver to run down the Turians spine.

Steeling his nerves and remaining stoic in the face of Earths deadliest land predator, the elderly Turian found his voice and glared right back at those murderous grey orbs.

"I must insist on the manner Dr Chakwas, the location is over 100 miles away by your people's measurement" informed Victus, Chakwas literary shoved the Turian with her jaw, causing him to stumble and almost fall flat on his backside.

 **"Insist all you like, my people are high endurance predators and have an average speed of 30 miles per hour. I will walk regardless of your arrangement or wishes"** snarled Chakwas, her fangs snapping dangerously close to the Turians head as she spoke.

Growling in his face for good measure, the Indominus didn't give the General a chance to retaliate with words as she gave him a dismissive huff before stomping away loudly to the other side of the room.

As the disgruntled apex predator left the scene, two Turians and an Asari turned their gaze to glare at their second in command.  
Daell tried to look calm and collected, her expression neutral as she slowly released her grip from the Asari's shoulder.

It was a miracle the three soldiers hadn't discharged their weapons when Chakwas shoved the General, for a brief moment Daell truly thought the Indominus was going to eat the elderly Turian right there on the spot.

But like she expected things were settled in a relatively calm manner, or as calm as it can be with Earths top land predator being in the room.

"Like I said, the General has the situation under control" said the red faced Asari confidently, earning her looks of disbelief from her unsettled comrades in arms.

Then as if contradicting the Asari's words, the sound of shrieking metal shattered the air and everyone spun around just in time to see Chakwas herself forcing the hangar bay door open with her bare hands.

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
Earth  
Regional rain forest  
Shepard's Territory**

"By the Spirits, what are those?" questioned Garrus in bewilderment as he was lowered to the ground by the ever so friendly form of Ash.

The armoured Indominus gave him a quizzical look, before her eyes settled upon what he was looking at causing her to stifle a laugh in amusement. Ash had forgotten the Turian wasn't exactly educated on Earths native fauna, meaning he would have no clue what the creatures were in the valley ahead of them.

Currently there were two species grazing in the large open field in the distance, a field teaming with thick grassy vegetation and small flowering plants that perfumed the air with various stenches both appealing and repulsing.

The most abundant creatures in the clearing were giant barrel like beast standing as tall as Garrus himself. Covered head to hoof in curly locks of wool, the giant 2 tonne herbivores were armed with a pair of hard curling horns on either side of their head. Horns that on a beast that size could easily shatter a man's rib cage or down right kill you with a single swing of the head.

The other more elusive creatures were almost three times the size of the first and nearly as long as an Indominus rex. Standing on 4 muscular legs and with long sweeping necks, these creatures were almost a spitting image of the prehistoric species of sauropods that existed over 65 million years ago.

Except these creatures were adorned with a row of sharp looking spikes covering their back region, while the neck and tail were adorned with small spikes that could easily impale anything that got to close to the lumbering herbivore if they weren't careful.

The sheer size of the creatures made Garrus question their purpose and value to the Indominus rex's, these were obviously the creatures Shepard wanted them to get. But what importance did they hold?

 **"Those woolly monstrosities we call cloud mongrels, the big ones with the spikes we call long necks…. But where are the Horn busters?"** informed Ash casually, until she noticed a section of the herd was nowhere to be seen.

Growling softly, Ash slipped her laser rifle onto her back before raising her left arm and gazing down at the small control panel integrated in the armour. After a moment of hesitation, Ash tapped a claw on one of the buttons causing the heads up display in her helmet to magnify her vision by some degree.

Garrus placed his grenade launcher on the ground and grabbed his assault rifle from his back, with a simple twitch of the hand the small box that was his weapon suddenly reconstructed itself into a functioning firearm fitted with an in built computerise scope.

Pressing the butt of the rifle into his shoulder, the young Turian raised his weapon to his eye and began looking around the clearing for anything that resembled a Horn buster.

 **"Shit… Come on Turian something not right here"** growled Ash in agitation, switching her visor back to normal, the massive predator held out a hand to the Turian to climb onto.

Slapping his rifle onto his back, Garrus grabbed the grenade launcher before jumping onto the scaly hand. He was getting use to riding around on a small fleshy platform with claws, once you got past the giant sickle claws and the slight swaying of the hand it wasn't that bad.

But before Ash could raise her hand back to her chest, the splintering snap of breaking wood split the air alerting her to the danger at hand. Dropping the Turian abruptly on the ground, Ash roared loudly in rage as she whipped the laser rifle from her back eyes set with a murderous glare upon the scaly muzzle of another Indominus rex.

The intruder, a rather small rex standing at 13 feet at the hip and covered with dark green scales was like most of its species. Long, naturally armoured and sporting a set of jaws crammed packed with uneven dagger like fangs.

Sickly yellow eyes stared at Ash calmly, a slight confident gleam flickered in those sickening orbs as the Indominus raised his hands in the air as a sigh of peace. While also indicating he was not armed nor had any intentions to do harm, this fact didn't faze Ash as she continued to train her sights on the intruder's skull, claw hovering over the red painted trigger of her weapon.

Garrus by now had composed himself and realized the situation, sitting upright in a half crouched position with his grenade launcher in hand. The Turian trained his own sight on the intruding Indominus from his position slightly behind and to the left of Ash.

 **"Easy their Beta, by tradition it is dishonourable to shoot a messenger"** growled the Intruder gruffly, his voice thick with confidence and a note that set Garrus on edge.

Something about the intruder didn't sit right with him, he was way too confident staring down the barrel of Ash's rifle. A factor alone that should have at least made the Intruder back step a little but this so called 'messenger' was giving no ground to the infuriated female.

 **"Then give your message and be gone Messsssenger"** hissed the armoured Indominus harshly, her fangs snapping at the air as she spoke and quills arcing into the air to make her look slightly taller and more intimidating.

The messenger didn't look concerned, in fact the green Indominus looked quite calm and slightly amused as their stood there at gunpoint to a more than trigger happy female predator.

 **"My message is for Shepard herse.."** the Indominus didn't get a chance to finish as Ash impatiently stamped her foot and slashed her tail at the air.

 **"By tradition the Beta of a pack can receive any message intended for the Alpha, so start talking"** spat Ash with a jab of her rifle in the Indominus's face, this seem to wipe the air of confidence away from the intruders face.

Garrus swore he saw a flash of alarm flicker on the predator's expression, only to be hastily hidden by an air of calmness and composure.  
The Turian tightened his grip upon the grenade launcher, eyes staring down the crude metal optics of the firearm and levelling them with the intruders exposed chest.

If things turned bad, Garrus would be sure to back Ash up with his grenade launcher. No matter how bad his chance might be of living long, he was better off with Shepard's pack members than this unknown Indominus rex. A thought suddenly struck Garrus, why was the messenger panicked when Ash told him to give her the message. Something wasn't right.

 **"Very well Beta…. I bring a demand from my leader, the Alpha male Alenko** " began the Indominus **"Apparently words gotten around that Cerberus is willing to give a big reward for anyone who can find a particular female with green eyes"**

Garrus notices Ash's composure go tense and her hand twitch slightly around the grip of her weapon.

 **"Purple quills"**  
Purple quills, no he could mean Book did he. Garrus narrowed his eyes, why was someone offering a reward to capture Book, this wasn't looking good.

 **"And brown scales"** the messenger let the words linger in the air as he finished speaking, his yellow eyes fixed on Ash with a predatory stare.

 **"If I'm not mistaken, you have a pack member that fits those descriptions"** taunted the green Indominus smugly, but Ash didn't say a word in reply.

 **"Alenko wants that female, Shepard has one chance to hand her over or we'll take her by force"** suddenly barked the messenger, his claws flexing and quills quivering as he let out a savage threatening growl.

Ash's reply was instant, she let out a horrific high pitch roar that rattled the earth. A roar that meant one thing and one thing alone, even Garrus a complete alien to Indominus culture could tell what that roar meant. In clear yet primitive words, the armoured Indominus had clearly said 'Never'.

A flash of greenery from the side was Ash's only warning to the incoming attack, no one had seen the second Indominus sneak up but it was there and prime for the attack.

With its scales reflecting the vegetation surrounding it, the attacking Indominus was literary invisible to the naked eye as it launched itself from the undergrowth. Jaws spread wide the giant 15 foot tall predator lunged for Ash's throat with bone crushing jaws that could crunch through armour.

Ash spun about to face her new attacker, rifle swinging upwards to target her new adversary and blast him full of holes. But the Indominus's claws slapped the weapon downwards and those giant fang filled jaws lunged for Ash's throat.

With a snarl Ash pulled away, her own jaws snapping at the enemy and just narrowly missing the scruff of his neck. But the other Indominus didn't miss, his fangs latched onto Ash's right shoulder and clamped down with a vice like grip.

Garrus heard the sound of shattering glass and crumpling metal emit from the predators jaws, as the beast fangs crushed through the point defence laser built into the armour and through the protective metal itself to sink into scaly flesh.

Ash roared in pain as the rex bit down with all his power, while his hind legs slammed into the ground shoving himself forward in an effort to knock Ash to the ground and deliver the killing blow.

But Ash own feet dug deep into the soil, and with a snarl she shoved back with incredible power against her attacker while at the same time shoving the side of her laser rifle into the Indominus chest.

The force knocked the attacker back, his fangs ripping armour and flesh from Ash's shoulder in the process causing crimson flecks of blood to splatter the ground.

Seeing his comrades surprise attack fail, the green Indominus charged forwards towards Ash's flank intending to tackle her to the ground. But in his rush to attack the large Beta female, the Indominus forgot there was another combatant in this fight.

Garrus took aim with his weapon, eyes narrowed as his squeezed the trigger and was almost knocked over as his firearm slammed backwards into his shoulder. A flash of light, a deafening bang and nothing happened, then an explosion of fire detonated against the green Indominus's hide. Causing the predator to stumble slightly and roar in pain.

The 45mm high explosive grenade had lived up to its name, in a blast of fire the grenade had scorched a large meter patch of green scale. Causing the scales to crack and allow blood to seep forth between clumps of black charred flesh.

Shaking its head and regaining its bearing, the green Indominus turned its eyes on Garrus and roared in outrage. Only for Garrus to fire his weapon again causing a small explosion to erupt in the earth beside his intended target.

Moving slowly backwards, Garrus adjusted his grip on his grenade launcher and took aim once more as the Indominus charged right for him. Squeezing the trigger the Turian cast another explosive canister down range, this time Garrus's aim was dead on target.

With a flash of light and violent boom of the air, the green Indominus head was encased in a cloud of smoke seconds before it toppled to the ground literary just a few meters from the blue armoured Turian.

Ash meanwhile had recomposed herself and was dealing with her would be killer in the only manner she knew how, with violence. Snarling savagely Ash dodged her opponent's jaws as he snapped at her face and retaliated with a wild swing of her assault rifle through the air.

Cold metal slammed against rock hard bone and the Indominus's jaws were slapped to the side, giving Ash an opportunity she couldn't resist.  
Lunging forward her own fangs wrapped themselves around the massive carnivore's throat, thrashing about in panic the enemy Indominus rex began slashing at Ash with his claws.

Giant sickle like claws sparked and screeched loudly against the harden ballistic material of Ashley's armour, leaving only shallow gashes in the protective material and leaving the Indominus hide untouched.

In reply Ash pulled backwards, using her enemies own power and weight against him to literary roll the 9 tonne predator against the ground. Garrus felt the earth shake as the giant predator crashed into the earth, tossing dirt in all direction in the process.

Letting go of her enemy's throat, Ash slammed her foot down on her adversary's neck and shoved the barrel of her laser rifle against the predators head.

A sickening wet pop followed by the sound of burning flesh split the air, signalling an end to the battle at hand.  
With her enemy now defeated, Ash allowed her rifle to fall from her claws and her left hand flung upwards to grasp her bleeding shoulder to stem the blood flow.

 **"Dishonourable bastards"** spat Ash as blood trickled from her jaws, growling softly in pain the wounded rex turned her eyes to her companion.

"I got the other one, but I don't think those roars will go unnoticed" stated Garrus as he cautiously walked towards her while he scanned the surrounding tree line with his rifle for more targets.

Ash didn't say anything in reply, she just stared at him for a few seconds before looking at the green scaled corpse of the enemy messenger.  
She could hardly believe they had tried to ambush her under the pretence of bringing a message, such tactics were cold and looked down upon by packs all over the country.

Nobody wanted to deal with someone if they were likely to kill you during negotiation talks, worst yet it wasn't entirely against tradition to do so. He delivered the message, than attacked them. Technically he hadn't gone against tradition but such actions spoke poorly about Alenko's pack.

It was also a very bad sign of how far Alenko would go to get Book.

 **"Quickly climb onto my back, we need to warn Shepard!"** barked Ash as she grabbed her weapon and slung it across her back, wincing slightly in pain as the action aggravated her injuries.

"But your wound?" questioned Garrus as he ran towards her, his eyes glancing at the mangled scales clutching to the predators mutilated shoulder.

 **"NO time we got to go now!"** snapped the female Indominus as she scooped Garrus into her claws and held him towards her neck.

Awkwardly the Turian climbed onto the predators armoured back and held onto the protective armour as Ashely wasted no time in charging into the forest at full speed.

To be continued…

* * *

 **Sorry for the long wait people I've been writing a shit load of words on multiple practice stories to try overcome some writer block for this series, now firstly I'd like to mention I'm giving not bugging my BETA to edit this stuff until after the holidays, that'd be rude of me to do.**  
 **Secondly... There was something but I forgot...**

 **Serious question now, what has been your favourite scene in this series thus far? As in what has entertained, intrigued or excited you to see in the story? Please don't be afraid to share.**

 **As usual Book belongs to the lovely writer 'Whenbooksfly101'**

 **Nothing much else to say, I'm a little sadden I cant seem to remaster the same excitement from my readers as other works like Chimera effect. Which is still in pending stage for a big rewrite to fix plot holes and make it a little more realistic...**

 **Hope your all enjoy the series, have a good festive season and be safe!**


	8. Chapter 7

"Normal speech"  
 **"Indominus speech"  
** _"Velociraptor speech"_

* * *

 **Sol System  
2152 (25 years ago)  
M15 Indominus holding facility  
0600 hours' local time  
5 days before Shepard's escape **

Deep inside the cold depths of the M15 Indominus holding facility, a pair of lightly armoured Turians sat in bored silence in front of a large outdated set of controls and terminals that were in dire state of disrepair.

With old fashion computer screen monitors hanging on the walls and hanging from the ceiling, the monitoring room was by far from lavish in appearance, but still the room held its purpose and served it well. For at the forefront of the room, above the control terminals and processing computers, was a large reinforced observation window gazing out into a large gloomy jail cell.

Sitting in dead silence, the pair of Turians busied themselves in different ways. While one Turian sat with a paper magazine in their claws reading an outdated copy of Sol NEWS, the other Turian busied themselves by playing some kind of game on his Omni tool to pass the time.

After a while, the Turian reading the magazine glanced away from her reading material. Revealing her blue colony markings across her pale plated face as well as the obvious expression of boredom.

Staring at the white face painted Turian beside her, the female Turian cast a glance at the monitoring screens around the room. Taking in the various camera angles of the giant cell on the opposite side of the observation window, the Turian was able to spot something rather amusing.

Bracing herself for what came next, the male Turian wasn't prepared for the ear splitting shriek like roar that rattled the window and caused the monitor controls to vibrate as over 150 decibels slammed against the wall.

Almost flying out of his chair in fright, the male Turian made a savage bark like noise as he jabbed a claw at the monitor causing the view outside the observation window to be illuminated with intense light.  
On the other side of the glass, just a few dozen meters away were the crude fang filled jaws of an Indominus rex. But not just any Indominus rex, a pitch black rex with sinister amber red eyes and a glare that could make a krogan green with envy.

Growling to himself with anger, the Indominus made a sinister laughing like noise after successfully frightening its captors, the Turians reply was instantaneous. Slamming his fist upon the coms terminal the Turian bellowed at the top of his lungs into a microphone piece.

"Prisoner 011156 step away from the inspection bay now!" the Turians flanging voice danced across the room, his voice amplified to a shrill roar that made the Indominus snap its jaws aggressively.

The female Turian just stared at her companion, mandibles twitching with amusement as the Turian tried to intimidate the giant predator on the other side of the glass into submission.

Livisia as she was known, was a rather young Turian serving in the Hierarchy military on an assignment to Earth. Working through months of history and behaviour identification before she'd even be let near the planet's surface, Livisia quickly learnt something about the native apex predators of earth.

They were all insane, but in a cute almost childish insane not border like serial killer as her superiors taught her to believe. When she was a child Livisia had always heard rumours and mythical tales about the giant super predators of Earth, when she became older she learnt about the giant creature's role in the Dark Matter wars her people had fought in decades beforehand.

But when she was first assigned to watch over the captured Indominus rex's here at M15, Livisia quickly learnt to feel sorry for the creatures.  
They truly were insane and mentally disturbed creatures, but watching them day after day and hearing what they had to say, it'd given her more than one sleepless night.

It was depressing having to lock them up so vigorously in these metal prisons, but as her enthusiastic co-worker was fond of reminding her. An Indominus rex was a predator, and predators would eat anything they could get their claws on.

Marctis had a rather different outlook of the Indominus species, as shown by the colourful language he was bellowing at their current inmates in an effort to force the predator away from the observation window.

Younger than herself and coming from a rather questionable background, Livisia wasn't sure how the troublesome Turian had managed to get posted at an Indominus holding facility. But what she did know for sure was that Marctis was lazy, likes to complain and was incredibly racist towards other species. Traits that made Livisia ponder the prospect of accidently locking the Turian in with an Indominus rex just to get rid of him.

People died at the Holding facilities all the time, all because Indominus's were insane didn't mean they weren't cunning or resourceful.  
Another loud roar shook the room, and Livisia sighed to herself as she placed her magazine on the console beside her before leaning forwards.

Tapping a button on the terminal, Livisia's voice drowned out Marctis crude language and gained her the unwanted attention of a large apex super predator.

"Shepard please step away from the inspection platform" Shepard the Indominus rex actually paused upon hearing the softer Turians voice replace the ghastly insults of Marctis.

Narrowing her eyes, Shepard hissed softly in protest but stepped away from the observation window. Her shackled ankles and wrist making a clattering sound as she moved away and towards the darker more private region of the holding cell.

"Stupid beast, I can't wait until the execution papers are processed and we can kill that abomination" spat Marctis as he rose from his chair, claws tapping at several buttons to deactivate the rooms recording system.

Livisia remained silent, her eyes having returned to the pages of her magazine. It was an old fading magazine issued long before she was born and held rather interesting contents.

It was about a Salarian scientist conducting research upon the Indominus species shortly after the Dark Matter war. The Salarians studies had revealed an anomaly amongst many Indominus rex's caused by their traumatic mutation from simple human into a living killing machine.

According to him, the human section of the Indominus brain wasn't exactly gone. Instead it was just clouded over and buried by raw instincts and processing organs, leaving a real possibility that the individual mind was still inside an Indominus rex just not functioning in a noticeable output.

"That shit will rot your brain" muttered Marctis as he leaned against the exit of the room, his claws fiddling with a small vile of the illegal substance known as red sand.

Livisia's reply was to reach across the room and hit the emergency door override switch, prompting the door the poor example of a Turian was standing against to fly open letting Marctis fall over into the hallway.

"BITCH!" cried out the Turian as he fell over, only for Livisia to hit another button causing the door to slam shut and lock the infuriating pest outside.

On the other side of the glass, Shepard tilted her head jaws parting to issue a confused garble. She'd seen the whole incident from her side of the glass, and to say she was dumbfounded was an understatement.

Unsure what was going on, the Indominus turned its eyes to the left wall of her holding cell and began slapping her tail against it issues a loud bang to echo through the air. She hammered the wall repeatedly, slowly adjusting the timing between impacts to follow a distinct tune Livisia knew all too well.

It was the chorus of unity, or as the other guards dubbed it the 'drums of comfort' a strange rhythmic beat that echoed through the facility for days at a time as each and every inmate within the prison partake in the strange ritual.

Rumours had it that the 'Drums of Comfort' began decades ago during a great purge of the Holding Facilities inmates, large hostile Indominus specimens were euthanized one at a time. So many were removed that some of the inmates were left utterly alone unable to hear the roar of their brethren.

It drove them beyond insane.

Until several Indominus's began to beat against the wall in unison, creating a metallic clanging so loud the entire facility echoed with its music.  
It was a touching tale and one Livisia loved hearing every time a new prison guard asked about, it brought a little shard of comfort to herself knowing that these monstrous creatures had a touch of empathy amongst themselves and weren't heartless beast out to kill her….. Well they were out to kill her but not personally….she thinks.

Rising to her feat, Livisia moved towards the thick bulk head door leading into Shepard's holding cell. Entering her personal code into the electromagnetic lock, the door disengaged and slid into the side of the wall allowing the young Turian prison guard to stroll casually onto a platform used to examine the Indominus inmates up-close when they were properly restrained.

Shepard paused in her beating, eyes darting to the lone Turian with a hint of recognition.

"Hey girl" waved Livisia in a friendly manner, Shepard garbled something unintelligible in reply waving her deadly claws to mimic the Turians wave.

Livisia knew the noise the Indominus was making was a muttered greeting, a rather insulting greeting mind you but a greeting nether the less.  
The young Turian knew she shouldn't expect a warm welcome from the large predator, Shepard was likely still bitter from being outwitted in their last game of deception just a few weeks ago.

Reaching behind her back, Livisia grabbed a small canister and held it out towards the towering mass of muscle and flesh.  
Clicking a button on the side of the device, Shepard narrowed her eyes as she watched a large basketball size sphere materialise upon the Turians outstretch hand.

"Last game was 7-3 right?" asked Livisia as she bounced the sphere upon the ground like a hand ball.

Shepard snorted with a snap of her teeth, eyes glancing at the score board scratched into the walls surface behind the Turian.

"Game on then" chuckle Livisia, tossing the ball upwards, the young female spun about on one leg before kicking the sphere towards the Indominus rex.

Shepard spun about with a rattle of chains, using her tail like a bat to slap the ball mid-flight.

Game ON!

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
Earth  
M10 Biotic Indominus holding facility **  
**1400 hours local time  
**  
M10 was like all the other specially designed and heavily defended facilities scattered across the continents of Earth, built in a huge circular shape with a thick concrete wall surrounding the border to keep the local wildlife out. The Council funded facilities spanned nearly a 500meters in diameter and were several hundred meters built below ground, a precaution used to contain the lethal inmates if they ever escaped.

It was part of M10 regulations that its most volatile inmates were held in the deepest sections of the facility, where the walls were thickest and the security guards most heavily armed to contain the giant apex predators held in each cell.

But what made M10 different from the hundreds of other near identical facilities across the planet, was the fact it was modified extensively for a single purpose. To house the incredibly powerful and emotional Indominus rex's who possessed the raw power to manipulate dark energy and the force of gravity to their will, resulting in creatures with the destructive potential to destroy an entire town with ease.

While the Salarian Unions had invented biotic dampeners to suppress these predators extraordinary power decades ago, that didn't mean the inmates themselves were any less dangerous.  
Especially when M10 housed the second most powerful biotic organism in the entire universe, an individual who could harness enough power to destroy a Hierarchy frigate sitting in atmosphere during the Dark Matter wars.

It was Warden Amutis job ensure the safe containment of this individual and others like it from unleashing devastation across the universe, it was a long and tiring job but the elderly white face painted Turian knew he was the only one capable of the job.

Amutis had been running M10 for nearly 30 years now and held the record for the lowest casualties sustained to his staff each year compared to the other Indominus holding facilities, a factor that had ensured his guaranteed retirement and high social status back home on Palavan when he finally left this spirit forsaken planet.

But currently he had a problem that may hinder that plan in the long run, standing in his office with hands held behind his back. The elderly Turian narrowed his eyes as he stared at 2 holographic images of the Wardens from neighbouring Holding facilities across the continent, the news they brought was rather… unsettling.

"What do you mean your scouts just vanished?" growled Amutis sternly, his eyes lingering on the Warden of the M12 Indominus holding facility.

"I mean my recon craft just disappeared when I sent them to investigate the M9 holding facility" stated the Warden gruffly in irritation at having to repeat himself.

"And we haven't heard any word from M7 or M9 for over a several days, I'm beginning to fear the worst" stated the Warden of the M15 holding facility.

Amutis wasn't sure why the M15 Warden was even bothering to be present for this meeting, the Warden himself was incredibly old by Turian standards and was in charge of containing rather unique Indominus specimens with a minority cut of the security budget given by the Council each year.

"Maybe it's a communication error or a storm destroyed their radio towers, you both know the budget cuts from the citadel have hindered every facilities ability to maintain its infrastructure" said Amutis with a wave of his hand, but even he couldn't deny that the long pause in radio chatter from the facilities was unusual.

"I can't spare any m… cra..ft…" sudden both holographic projections became a blur of static and the audio speakers in the room made horrible noises that cut out the Wardens next words.

Confused, the Warden approached his desk and pressed a button to open the coms channel with the maintenance coordinator, only for his audio system to make the strange noises like before.

"Something's wrong" muttered the Warden, eyes narrowing the elderly Turian turned his attention to the observation window behind his desk, the sudden cut of communication networks was oddly familiar to military jamming technology.

But who in their right mind would jam the coms to his facility, and why would they even dare to attack Council infrastructure holding something as sinister as the Indominus rex's?

Unaware to the Warden or the M10 security staff, there was a very diabolical reason for the cut in their communication network. And the culprits behind this sabotage of the radio channels revealed themselves as they dashed from the thick foliage of the forest and flung themselves flat against the outer concrete wall of M10.

The individuals were clearly humans, rather elderly humans to be more specific all clad in some form of old outdated Terran Alliance issued military equipment.

Clutching a mixture of old laser rifles and early 21st century gunpowder based assault rifles. The rag tag team of humans slowly shuffled along the massive wall their weapons at the ready and poised to strike, it was clear these humans knew what they were doing and had a plan.

One of the figures wearing a balaclava around his face paused briefly as his unit approached their destination, giving a silent hand signal to the men behind him the soldier dropped to a kneeling position and raised his wrest to his face.

Tapping a button on the battered, rust covered armoured gauntlet, the man whispered into the secured coms relay built into his armour.

"This is Bravo team were in position over" whispered the man before looking back towards the forest.

Far away in the direction the man was looking, several giant armoured forms cautiously moved about a small clearing where supply crates were stacked and various pieces of technology sat running silently.

A small navy blue Indominus wearing a giant and crudely fashion head set stood beside a mysterious cloaked Indominus rex, strapped upon the predators back was a large communication satellite dish that was receiving Bravo team's transmission.

Adjusting his head set, the blue Indominus clicked a button on the head phones before glowing softly in reply.

 **"Copy that Bravo Team stand by"** said the Indominus before looking at the cloaked figure beside him.

The individual glanced at him from beneath her hood, before turning her attention to another Indominus rex some distance away who was clicking her teeth aggressively at a team of humans setting up some kind of giant artillery piece.

 **"Alpha team do you copy, status report over"** said the blue Indominus into his head set, eyes looking back to the cloaked Indominus as he waited for a reply.

Back amongst the confines of M10, an Asari commando collapsed to the ground with purplish blood pouring from a savage gash across her back. Looming over the dead alien, the tall sleek and deadly form of a Velociraptor blinked in surprise as the radio device attached to its head carried the message to its ears.

The Raptor in question was a large murky black female with a stripe of bright green scales running along its side, but most of those scales were hidden behind the protective padding of light armour that encase the lethal predator.

What more, a small camera like device sat just behind the raptors left eye, a camera that was clearly integrated directly into the predator skull in a cybernetic fashion.

Valkyr glanced over her back as the air behind her shimmered briefly, then slowly two more velociraptors clad in similar armour materialised from thin air as they deactivated their cloaking fields.

Nodding to her companions the two raptors moved about taking some kind of equipment off their chest and attaching it to the communication tower, while they did that, Valkyr sent a neural pulse to the implant in the side of her head allowing her to mentally activate her coms system without even touching said device.

 _'This is Alpha team reporting in, jammers are in place we are preparing to breach the facility over'_ said the velociraptor calmly as she dragged the dead Asari corpse off to the side so it was out of the road.

Back with the blue Indominus, several more of the colossal predators all covered in basic plate armour emerged from the tree lines. The cloaked Indominus glanced at the new arrivals, before giving them a soft nod of the head then gesturing in the direction of M10.

 **"Inform Alpha and Bravo teams to stand by for artillery strike Zet"** spoke the Cloaked Indominus softly in a calm manner, the blue Indominus gave a nod of the head before tapping his head piece once more and relaying the new orders.

Turning its head, the cloaked Indominus then addressed the individuals assembling the giant 155mm artillery piece, the Indominus looming over the humans busy at work was rather different in appearance.

With snow white scales decorated in a stripe pattern with a murky shade of grey, the female Indominus was only 12 feet tall at the hip and sported a crest of bright red quills running down her neck.

With impatient but calm blue eyes, the Indominus helped moved pieces of the large long range cannon as an old human with glasses and a walking stick called out directions to her.

 **"Claire, when your ready you may fire at will"** called out the cloak Indominus, causing the other female predator to glance over at her briefly.

Turning back to the task at hand, Claire locked the giant barrel of the artillery piece into position before taking a step back, allowing the human ground team to attach computer pieces and electrical systems to the giant weapon.

 **"Lowery get to the computer and program the flight path"** said Claire impatiently as she lied herself down beside the weapon and pressed the side of her head against some kind of modified targeting scope.

Looking down the scope, Claire could see an airborne view of the entire M10 facility, curtesy of Lowery's technological skill with designing and building a small mobile hover drone built with a small wireless camera device. In other words Claire had a perfect bird's eye view of the battle field, something that would be crucial when trying to identify new targets.

Muttering to himself and complaining about old age, the elderly man limped towards a make shift desk were several computer processors sat all connected by cables and wires to the giant cannon just a few meters away.

"It's not like this is easy you know" grumbled Lowery to himself as he sat down at the table and rapidly began typing away at a key board, using visual imagery from the spy drone and a complex algorithm to map the trajectory and coordinates for the cannon complex ammunition.

"And done!" shouted Lowery as he hit one last button, causing the entire cannon itself to rotate slightly before elevating its barrel into the air.

 **"Loading team I want breaching ordinance double charge"** announce Claire as she continued to stare down the computerised sights of the weapon, her eyes taking in the specs that were Alpha and Bravo team.

Several stern voices bellowed like angry bulls as the humans went about with well practices precision, loading a hulking 155mm specialised breaching shell into the chamber, the loading team then inserted two cylinders of propellant behind the heavy projectile before closing the breach of the weapon.

"Gun ready!" called out the loading officer before covering his ears, Lowery himself flung both hands over his head while the Indominus braced themselves for what came next.

 **"Firing!"** barked Claire in warning before one of her claws tapped a button, causing the electronic detonator inside the cannon to activate.

With a mighty boom that rattled the air and an explosion of flames flying from the barrel. The 155mm artillery pieces discharged its payload with a roar of furry, launching the projectile at nearly 4000 feet per second towards the M10 Holding facility.

Back with Alpha team, the only warning they had of the incoming ordinance was a loud whistling echoing in the distance. Each soldier knew what the whistling sound meant and hastily braced themselves as a moment later, a section of the wall several meters away practically disintegrated into a cloud of dust and rubble.

No words were said as Alpha team rushed into the dust and through the man size opening ripped through the giant wall surrounding the alien complex. But the explosion hadn't gone unnoticed by the facilities security personal who were all buzzing about in alarm at this point with weapons at the ready.

In the confusion however, none of the aliens had expected a squad of human infantry to burst across the facility with weapons blazing. Laser bolts and high velocity bullets flew in all direction, burning through armour or pelting against kinetic barriers.

Meanwhile on the room top of M10's tallest building, Valkyr and her team moved behind some cover in preparations to activate their breaching charges.  
When everyone was in position and the gunfire below reach their ears, Valkyr gave her subordinate the signal.

In the room below them, several Turians and Asari stood hunched over computer terminals with confused and panicked expressions across their alien faces. Flicker of coms chatter would sometimes penetrate the air through audio speakers, while over a dozen orange holographic computer screens flickered about making them impossible to use.

Then without warning, the ceiling of the room exploded in a blinding flash of light. Three shadows pounced through the smoke and hurled themselves at the closest victim, screams filled the air as razor sharp claws tore through armour and flesh, coating the room with blue and purple blood.

When the violence was over, Valkyr stood with her comrades in arms poised over the dead corpses of the aliens. A fresh layer of blood coating her deadly sickle claws and talons.

Glancing at her companions, Valkyr bark a cough screech like noise. Spurring the other two raptors into action as they attached more devices to the computer terminals and began downloading and erasing all information on M10's local servers.

Back with the artillery crew, Claire was crying out orders as she called out new targets and ammunition specks for the cannon.

 **"Hangar facility, use airburst anti-aircraft ordinances double load"** and to her words, the giant weapon slowly adjusted its elevation and swivelled to the side, while the loading crew beside her loaded the new cannon shell into the weapons chamber.

"Gun ready!"

 **"Firing!"**

The cannon bellowed loudly as it discharge its payload down range, and a moment later inside the hangar facility of M10 where several ground crews raced about to prepare aircraft for launch. A bolt of light shot through the ceiling, and a powerful explosion launched thousands of large metal balls in a shotgun like effect across the room, killing everyone and significantly damaging the vehicles inside.

Shell after shell was fired from the barrel of the 155mm gun, unleashing a wave of destruction in its wake all across M10 killing hundreds in the process. Utilising specialised ordinance designed during the Dark Matter war, the 155mm could penetrate up to 3 meters of reinforce concrete before detonating its payload deep into the interior of the alien facility.

While Claire's gun team pounded the facility, Alpha and Bravo team raced through areas of importance. Valkyr and her team were like ghost, moving at rapid speeds and invisible to the naked eye. No one saw the three raptors as they slipped from room to room to slice open their adversaries.

Alpha team fought fast and hard as they pushed their way through M10, their weapons spitting death in all direction to claim the enemy defenders lives with either bullets or laser bolts.

The cloaked Indominus stood quietly while the battle raged on from afar, then when Bravo team reported that they had successfully captured the Warden of the facility. The cloaked Indominus cleared her voice and turned her hooded head towards Claire once more.

 **"Claire target the enemy defence towers"** Claire only response was to call out the new target and select the high explosive anti material ammunition to be loaded into the cannon.

As the cannon discharged once more, the cloaked Indominus leaned in close to Zet to relay new orders to him.

 **"Tell the supply line to prepare our food reserves and organise our philological medical staff, we may have 200 mentally disturbed biotics on our hands when this is done"** said the cloaked Indominus, Zet bowed his head slightly.

 **"As you wish Queen Elise"** said Zet in a respectful tone before tapping his headset once more and relaying the orders to their supply line some 15 minutes from their destination.

Elise raised her head, revealing the glowing red screen of her visor before turning her head to glance at the armoured Indominus awaiting her orders.  
She regarded them briefly, before gesturing with her head for the largest Indominus to step forwards.

Standing tall in his suit of green camouflage plate armour, the brown scaled Indominus rex known as Anderson stared at Elise expectantly, his claws clenched around the large form of an old Indominus size laser rifle.

 **"Anderson I want you to take Charlie team into the facility, I want my people out of those torture chambers yesterday"** said Elise sternly, eyes narrowed behind the red hue of her helmets visor.

 **"It will be done"** replied Anderson with a nod of the head, then he barked at the Indominus behind him before charging into the trees.

Over 15 Indominus rex's, all armed and ready for combat charged after Anderson. The combined noise of their rattling armour and pounding feet made it sound like an entire army was rushing through the forest, and Elise knew that whoever stood in their way was going to be annihilated with extreme precedence.

Mentally smirking to herself, Elise sighed slightly as she calculated how long this operation would take before they could clear out of the region.  
She only had 30 individuals qualified to work with traumatised Indominus rex's, then there was the process of moving and relocating the prisoners inside the facility then distributing food reserves to the underfed predators.

Then there was Claire, Elise glanced at the Indominus commanding the artillery unit with worry. Claire had been acting strange the last few weeks, it'd been years since her mate was captured by a Turian patrol and taken from her. Elise had promised the Alpha female she would find and rescue Claire's mate, but the trail went cold almost a month ago.

Elise could only hope the data network of M10 might hold a clue as to where he might be, the news would give them a new target to hit after their next raid on the notorious M15 facility.

But for now Elise had to worry on the assault against M10 and its biotic inmates, hopefully what she was after was still here after so many years.

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
Earth  
Regional rain forest  
Shepard's Territory**

It was well into the night by the time 3 giant predators lumbered into the clearing outside the dark overgrown form of the warehouse, their giant shadowy bodies only illuminated by the ghostly glow of the moon above, one would almost overlook the odd shape perched on an armoured Indominus's head.

Garrus Vakarian sat on Ash's head, his eyes wide and alert for the slightest hint of an enemy attack. Ahead of them, the demonic shape of Shepard glanced over her shoulder at the wounded apex predator and her cargo, a flicker of worry flashed through those amber red eyes as Shepard glanced at her Beta's bloodied shoulder.

 **"Book go get the medical kit, Ash lie down over here"** spoke the Alpha female, her voice losing its sharp bite of authority and being replaced by an almost motherly tone.

With tired eyes, Ash lumbered forwards and stepped to the side as the smaller brown form of Book charged past her and into the pitch black confines of the warehouse.

Hissing and flinching in pain, Ash slowly lowered herself onto the ground where Shepard told her too. Mindful to keep her head levelled as to not topple her silent sciential keeping watch on her head. Ash was thankful for the silly alien taking on the responsibility as spotter, while it was not required she felt a little respect for the tiny alien for helping watch over her family.

When Ash's head gently touched the ground, so did Garrus boots made contact with the cold dirt floor as he jumped down from his perch with tiredness etched into his face.

Everyone was worn out from the day's events, after Garrus and Ash were ambushed by rival Indominus rex's they immediately sought out Shepard to inform her of the danger.  
Upon hearing the news, Shepard had double timed her efforts to round up the Horn busters she had discovered and moved the small herd to a sheltered location for transport the next day.

Throughout the entire day, the small pack had been vigilant for any indication of attack. But Alenko's pack was nowhere to be seen.

 **"Kid"** the sound of Shepard's voice snapped Garrus from his tired thoughts, prompting him to arc his head upwards to stare at the giant predator looming over him.

 **"Thank you"** whispered the Indominus softly, her deadly muzzle gently nudging him in the chest in a sign of thanks before she turned her attention to inspecting the wounded Beta.

The young Turian wasn't sure how to respond to that, for a moment he just stood there. Eyes peering through the darkness as Shepard whispered and comforted her wounded pack member, while a moment later Book returned carry a large rolled up tarp.

Standing to the side and staying silent, Garrus watched as the Tarp was unrolled, revealing a small collection of medical supplies and herbal remedies.  
With soft whispers and the odd hiss of pain, Ash remained motionless as Book removed what was left of the Indominus's destroyed right shoulder armour before cleaning the wound with some kind of wet fabric.

After cleaning the wound and getting a good look at the damage, Book whispered something to Shepard before picking up a jar filled with some kind of strange gel like substance. Whatever it was Ash became alarmed and instantly raise her head to snarl in protest.

 **"Save the Medi-gel, just bandage the wound I'll be fine"** hissed Ash stoically, her face trying to hide the pain and discomfort racing through her as a little blood seeped from her wound.

Garrus wasn't sure what this Medi-gel was, judging by how Ash reacted however the Turian could only assume it was a rare or extremely difficult to make substance used to treat injuries.

Book glanced at Shepard before whispering something to her, there was a moment of silence as the Alpha female stared at the wounded form of Ash before shaking her head. Without a word, Book unscrewed the lid of the jar while Ash continued to protest loudly.

But she didn't resist as Book smeared some of the gel across Ash's wounds, coating it in a clear resin like substance that glistened brightly in the moons glow.

 **"Give it a moment to sink in, Book you stay here and keep an eye on her I need to discuss something with the kid"** announced Shepard as she pulled away from the group, turning her crimson gaze to stare down at the motionless form of Garrus himself.

Shepard lowered her head down to his level, her eyes almost glowing behind the clear protective material of her helmets visor. The sight reminded the young Turian of the stories his parents told him as a child, about mystical spirits and make believe creatures that only existed in fantasy.

In the dark gloom of the night, Shepard reminded the Turian of such stories, making the young prison guard wonder if such fairy tales were created from experienced like he shared now with the imposing predator before him.

With the moon behind her, Shepard hand slowly reached out to wrap her claws around his chest softly. The without a word, she rose back to her full height bringing the Turian with her like a child carrying their favourite toy.

 **"I need to talk to you in private"** was all Shepard said as she carried the Turian into the darkness of the warehouse, plunging Garrus in total all-consuming darkness.

For several long minutes all Garrus could was pitch blackness, his hearing was consumed with the stomping of Shepard's feet and the clatter of her armour. Then there was a pause and Shepard slowly lowered the Turian onto the ground, letting him stand under how own power once more.

 **"Many males would give an arm or leg to be where your about to enter kid, never has a male either Indominus nor alien enter this room. You have the privilege of being the first"** Shepard's voice was sharp and cold, holding an almost threatening note to it that made Garrus shiver slightly.

"Yay for me" muttered Garrus under his breath.

For a moment nothing happened, then with a loud 'click' Garrus was blinded with rays of harsh stabbing light causing him to shield his face with an arm.  
When the Turians eyes finally adjusted to the light, Garrus found himself looking around in surprise at what he saw.

It was a large room that was for sure, but it was the stuff inside the room that indicated its purpose.  
In one corner a large mass of plant matter, torn fabric and animal skins made up the unmistakable form of a bed or nest.

Items were hanging from the ceiling on long strings of metallic wires, while faded decomposing pictures hung on the walls depicting images from a world before the Dark matter war destroyed the planet. Garrus knew what this all meant and now the Indominus's words made sense, Garrus was in Shepard bed room… But why?

The Indominus herself had strolled across the room while Garrus was taking in the view, depositing herself on her crude makeshift bed. She lay there with her head resting on the floor and eyes watching the Turian with curiosity, just waiting for him to make his next move.

"This is your room" observed Garrus out loud, his eyes glancing at the Indominus to judge her reaction.

Shepard only shrugged in reply, her expression neutral as she continued to just stare at him with a clicker of curiosity.

"Why bring me here?" asked Garrus as he cautiously leaned his grenade launcher against a wall, his movement carefully slow as he kept his focus on the armoured predator across the room.

Again, Shepard only shrugged in reply. It was now obvious Shepard wouldn't be telling him anything, so now the question was why she was giving him the silent treatment.

"You said you needed to ask me something in private?" tested Garrus once more, slowly moving around the room and taking in the strange display of items littering the place.

 **"How many siblings do you have?"** the question was sharp and simple, but to Garrus he found himself dumbfounded by the extremely personal inquiry from an absolute stranger.

"One… it's just me and my sister Solana" said Garrus cautiously, unsure why Shepard would be interested in his family.

To the Turians surprise, Shepard looked excited by the news. Eyes wide and quills perked, Shepard chuckled softly to herself in a cheerful manner that made Garrus feel uncomfortable.

 **"She had two, she always wanted kids you know… your mother"** said Shepard softly, her head rising from the floor as she spoke to stare him right in the eyes.

Garrus swore his heart skipped a beat at those words, what could Shepard possibly mean by that. What more how could Shepard possibly know anything about his mother?

"What are you talking about?" snapped Garrus with uncertainty, eyes staring at Shepard accusingly as he spoke.

 **"Your mother Livisia, she always said she wanted kids when she was younger…. She's in good health I hope?"** the way Shepard asked the question was with an air of uncertainty, but also hopeful like she was half expecting bad news.

Garrus swallowed, eyes breaking contact with Shepard as a wave of emotions swelled up inside him. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Garrus looked at the floor as he broke the news to the Indominus rex.

"Mum went missing 20 years ago…. How… How do you know her, better yet how did you know Livisia was my mother?" demanded Garrus taking a step toward Shepard while he spoke.

Shepard face flashed with concern as she learnt Livisia had gone missing, then a calm almost childish expression crossed her face as she leaned forwards to whisper her words to the aggravated Turian.

 **"I can smell the connection, back when I was in M15 and before you were born, your Mother and I had a rather unusual relationship"** said Shepard, Garrus swore if the Indominus had lips she'd be smirking at him.

But one thing stood out the most from that simple sentence, his father never mentioned his mother worked at an Indominus holding facility?  
It appeared Shepard picked this up as her face lost that cheerful smirk and looked almost apologetic.

 **"You never knew she was a prison guard…"** observed the large predator.

"No…. How was your relationship… Unusual?" inquired the young Turian.

 **"I'd try to kill her multiple times, yet she always got away without a scratch… It became a game between us after a few months….. Then she started talking to me"** explained the Indominus, Garrus had to admit, that was a rather odd relationship.

 **"We use to have 'girl time' as she called it, ever day she would stroll into my cell and out of reach, and every day without fail she would sit down and share that days gossip with me…. After a while I think I started talking back? I'm not sure those days I wasn't entirely sane or in control of myself"** Shepard said waving the info aside as unimportant, but that left Garrus with even more questions than answers.

One thing stood out to the young Turian that left Garrus with a small burning desire, a feeling of emptiness he'd felt since a child when he and his sister went to school each day and gazed upon their friends and their families. Garrus never really got to know his mother before she just vanished, his father had never told them what happened to her or why she left only that she wasn't coming back.

But Shepard. Shepard had known his mother personally by the sound of it, and that left Garrus with a small feeling of envy, but also longing to know what his mother was like in person.

"What was she like… my mother I mean" asked Garrus as he moved towards the resting Indominus rex.

Shepard stared down at him with soft friendly eyes and Garrus was uncomfortable to see his own reflection against the clear visor over the predators face.

 **"She was very much like you kid… smart, brave, intelligent…"** Shepard trailed off with a soft sigh.

 **"You're so much like her..."** Shepard closed her eyes and looked away briefly with a funny noise escaping her throat, a noise Garrus swore was the sound Indominus made when they cried.

A moment passed with Shepard hiding her face from the small Turian, then composing herself and removing her helmet. Shepard stared across the room and gestured with her head to something redirect Garrus attention.

Glancing across the room, Garrus was unsure what he should be looking at. His eyes settled upon a set of large glass panels that looked like some upsized version of a data pad, or rather a data pad large enough for an Indominus rex to use and made in a crude fashion.

Shooting Shepard a confused look, he was answered by a flick of the head indicating Shepard wanted him to go retrieve the data pads.  
In awkward silence, Garrus walked across the room and was surprised to see each data pad had a name etched into the metallic frame in English, raising his Omni tool the young Turian translated the writing into his own language.

Ashley.

Book.

Jenkins.

Shepard.

Livisia.

Garrus…

Snapping his head around to stare at the Indominus, Garrus wasn't sure what to say as the giant predator watched him closely like a carnivore stared at its prey. The look was unsettling and the names, why was his name on the data pad.

 **"I was saving one of those data pads for your mother… it's an official contract that if she ever sighed would make her a legal part of my pack and respected member of the Terran community…"** explained Shepard softly **"Your mother…. Livisia was like a sister to me, it's only right that I offer my sister's child a place in my family."**

Garrus felt his mandibles and jaw go slack as he looked between the data pads and Shepard. The key word that seemed to echo in the young Turians mind was 'family' Shepard wanted him to be part of her family, her pack her little group of individuals all surviving on this terrifying and dangerous world.

What more, this giant killing machine. The most terrifying land predator on the planet, was thinking of him like her own nephew.

"I.. don't know…" were the only words that left Garrus lips.

 **"Take your time child"** Shepard rose to her feat helmet between her hands.

 **"You may use my room for the night child, I must patrol the nest for Alenkos pack…. Rest well"** with that said, Shepard strolled out of the room and out of sight. Leaving the young Turian alone and confused as he processed these unusual revelations.

One thing that was clear to Garrus that made his brain hurt just thinking about it.

He had an Indominus rex adopt him as an aunt… Spirits help him how was he going to explain this to his father?

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
Earth  
M10 Biotic Indominus holding facility**  
 **2300 Hours local time**

The giant hooded form of Elise slowly strolled through a gaping hole torn through M10 defensive outer wall, her eyes staring through her red tinted visor and upon the carnage her people had inflicted upon the aliens within the giant prison complex.

Corpses littered the ground, flames flickered from several buildings and the stench of smoke lingered in the air making Elise want to sneeze.  
This was a sight she'd become accustomed too over the past few months, with her people dying inside these facilities and many left in traumatized states Elise had made it her mission to assault these facilities and free as many of her people as she can.

She'd attacked both Indominus holding facilities and human concentration centres set up by the Citadel council years ago, Elise even remembered when those centres and facilities were constructed over 100 years ago during the end of the Dark Matter war.

Growling to herself, Elise stomped her foot upon an alien corpse, flattening armour and flesh into a mess of unrecognizable gore across the cold concrete floor.

 **"Queen Elise"** called out a voice causing Elise to look up as an armoured Indominus strolled towards her with a slight bow of the head in respect.

 **"I have news from Alpha Anderson, we found her"** informed the Indominus in a professional manner, causing Elise to raise her head a little higher and look towards the facility looming before her.

Strolling up beside Elise, came the white form of Claire with the clear remains of a disassembled 155mm artillery piece all strapped to her for transport. But that wasn't all she carried, several of the human loading team and Lowery were perched upon the small Indominus's back in an awkward fashion.

While Claire observed the damage done to the facility, Elise couldn't help but notice the glint of savage satisfaction etched into those almost cold emotionless eyes. It made Elise worry for the Indominus mental condition, she knew how easy it could be to let raw monstrous instincts take control of one's body in times of anxiety or hardship.

 **"Excellent news soldier, take me too her"** said Elise addressing the armoured Indominus in front of her.

With a nod of the head the Indominus spun about and moved towards the large buildings just a few dozen meters away.

 **"Come on Claire, we might find something relating to the location of your mate inside"** with those words said, Claire fixed her with a hopeful stare before following the armoured Indominus through a large opening and into the interior of the facility.

What Elise loved about the Indominus holding facilities were the fact they were designed to house and transport rex's like themselves, resulting in large open rooms. Hallways large enough for an Indominus to easily walk down and doorways that they could squeeze through without too much hassles. There were even elevators designed to accommodate their huge weight allowing them to access the underground levels of the facility.

As the trio walked through the facility flanked by a pair of armoured Indominus for protection, they stumbled upon Alpha team exiting a room with several Aliens in shackles being held at gunpoint.

One of the soldiers from Alpha team suddenly separated from the rest, pulling away a balaclava from his face to reveal dark skin etched with dirt and age.

 **"Barry"** greeted Claire, pausing to look down at the dark skinned human with hope burning in her eyes. **  
**  
Barry smiled up at the snow white Indominus, his facial expression soft but twisted with weariness from a long day of close combat fighting.

"Hey Claire, any news about Owen yet?" asked Barry softly, causing Claire's expression to drop with disappointment.

 **"I was hoping you might have found him…"** muttered the Indominus almost bitterly as she looked away.

Elise watched the exchange in silence, her expression emotionless but her heart twisting in sympathy for the poor duo. Elise knew the human Owen Grady quite well, they had a long history dating back all the way to the Jurassic World Incident of 2015.

In fact all three of them were there that day, and it was a day Elise would never forget. Raising her left hand to rub at her right shoulder, the cloaked Indominus shudder briefly before making a snapping bark noise to tell everyone to keep moving.

 **"Barry go look through the information we recovered from the facilities data banks for any mention of Owen, Claire with me I'll need your team to bypass the security system containing Subject Zero"** growled Elise sternly as she continued walking, with those words said Claire and Barry parted ways without a fuss.

They both knew better than to argue with an Alpha of Alpha's during a time like this, especially when said Alpha was putting time and resources into letting them look for just one man.

Rushing along, Claire only half heard one of her passengers as they leaned forwards and patted her neck in a comforting manner.

"Don't worry we'll find him" said Lowery only just loud enough for the Indominus to hear, Claire only snorted in reply.

She didn't want to think about it, she had a job to do.

After a long agonizingly slow process of navigating the elevator system and passing through several narrow sections of hallway. Elise and others eventually reached their destination, a large circular room built into the very base of the facility.

The only thing separating them from their target, was a large meter thick blast door of solid steel.  
Glaring at the obstacle, Elise glanced at Claire before gesturing to the door.

Getting the message, Claire lowered herself to the ground allowing her passengers to slide off and begin work hacking the security door.

 **"Once were done here Claire, I want you to go ahead to the Arcadia Clan and speak to an Alpha named Tayray… See if you can't negotiate safe passage through his territory for our convoy"** spoke Elise, her attention fixed on the snow white Indominus as she spoke.

Claire stared at Elise for a long time without a word, her body language conveying the giant predator was tempted to refuse the orders given to her. But eventually Claire relaxed slightly and bowed her head in submission.

 **"I'll take my team and Valkyr pack with me, anything else?"** asked Claire, seconds before the impenetrable blast door in front of them slowly began to slide to the side revealing the room beyond.

 **"Look into this Tech Priest the Cerberus clan is searching for, if it's who I think it is she may be the key to rebuilding the Terran Alliance"** Claire looked surprised by those words, her jaw falling open slightly as she stared at the Alpha female.

To be continued…..

* * *

 **AU?:**

 **Another installment of the Indominus effect!**

 **Sorry for the late update Christmas and stuff got in the road and poor wifi connections, I do hope people are still enjoying this despite the lack of feedback. I noticed a lot of people read the series and I do thank everyone of you for taking the time to enjoy my work.**  
 **The story is reaching 60 000 Words, if I pass that then this will be the longest single work I've created since I was 13! I tend to shift between stories a lot as you may have notice so this has been a big challenge for me to follow through... Sorry booring you I guess.**

 **May I ask you something readers? How did you come across my story by chance? Just curious is all.**

 **I hope you all had a good Christmas day and be safe, take care see you next week!**


	9. Chapter 8

**Review responses:**

 **Skywardwanderer:** Gotta say that's some user name, and thank you very I do hope you continue to enjoy the story I aim to entertain.

 **Timgr:** It's a small issue I have honestly hehe, I like a play by play story line writing style, slow but action filled hehe

 **Light Lord Cybergate:** hahahaha you caught me red handed, but you brought up an interesting Idea! What would happen if the Dino humans were left for 50 000 years, what would happen oh SHHHHHh you'll inspire me to write a new story damn it!

 **Ilireanwr:** Sorry about the confusing start yes its a little off-putting, my aim for the fic was to add an air of mystery and discover to the story, let so many questions hover in the air you had to read and look between the lines to find out. I've been trying to do that with a little success, thus why I'm tempted to try a rewrite of the universe once more.  
But say around chapter 13-15 you get a few of your questions answered, a little history pops up in the future.

 **Bulldan:** So someone did notice the reference HAHAH, I nearly did put Elise from 'Its' not the raptor DNA' in this fic but thought better, I don't have permission so I kind of used the name but different history. Elise's tale in the fic is more tragic. Though it is a tempting add Elise and her sister to the story XP

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
Earth  
Regional rain forest  
Unknown pack territory  
0700 hours local time  
2 days since Vakarians kidnapping**

The sharp supersonic crack of a mass accelerator split the air with like a snap of thunder, a sound caused by a tiny piece of metal no bigger than a grain of sand breaking the sound barrier several times over. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then slowly a large mass of greyish fur and flesh slumped to the ground in a lifeless heap, yellow predatory eyes still twisted with a look of savage hunger and rage.  
 **  
**Staring coldly at the lifeless corpse a dozen meters away, the armoured form of General Adrien Victus holstered his heavy pistol and turned to face his company of ragtag soldiers.

"Sound off, anyone hurt?" asked Victus sternly as he looked over his men who were encircled by a ring of dead animal corpses.

"We lost 2" called out Daell as she kneeled over the torn forms of a Turian and Asari, it was a sickening sight to see your team mates torn open by savage beast but out in Earths ecosystems casualties were to be expected.

Victus remained unfazed as his eyes settled upon the dead soldiers, before his attention shifted to one of the newest recruits to his unit. A dark plates Turian wielding a weapon that should belong in a museum in this day and age.

The Hierarchy hadn't used a machinegun since the Dark Matter wars, partly due to the bulk and weight of such a contraption making it difficult for the user to move. Using a primitive human concept of circulating coolant around the glowing hot barrel of the weapon, the machinegun weighted 3 times that of a normal assault rifle. But unlike an assault rifle the machinegun never overheated during sustained fire. Making it ideal for entrenched warfare or weakening the barriers of an Indominus rex.

The recruit himself was leaning over one of the dead creatures, weapon poised to fire as he poked the beast lifeless skull with his rifle to see if it was still alive.  
By the look on the Turians face, Victus could tell the recruit had never seen a Viper Raptor before.

"Pedria" the young Turian jumped as his name was called out and stared at Victus with a shocked look on his face.

"Pedria, I said pack light, what is this?" asked Victus calmly as he walked towards the new recruit, hand gesturing to the large weapon and small drum of cooling liquid attached to his back.

Standing at attention and giving a salute, the young Turian stood tall and formally in front of his commanding officer. An action that made Victus want to roll his eyes in irritation, out here in the Sol system the military chain of command was a little lighter and the discipline softer. Factors that had evolved from being cut off from the rest of the Hierarchy for so many years.

That and Victus hated formalities on the field, a predator isn't going to wait about while you're done saluting and addressing your officer appropriately.

"At ease soldier" sighed Victus as he held both hands behind his back, eyes glancing at the rest of his troopers who were all shaking their heads at the recruit.

"Sir its umm…" Pedria looked down at his weapon with hesitation.

"It's an Old Hierarchy Machinegun sir" finally said Pedria offering the weapon to Victus.

Taking the weapon and being cautious of the pipes running from the weapon to Pedria back, Victus instantly notice the weight of the monstrous machine and the apparent lack of any sights. But he also noticed the markings of combat and wear on the weapon.

"This hasn't been standard issue for 50 years recruit, were did you get this?" question Victus, partly aware that the rest of his team were now restless.

"It was given to me by my father sir, he transferred the weapon from Palavan to here" said Pedria with a hint of pride in his voice.

Satisfied with his inspection, Victus gave the weapon back to the recruit and turned around. Just in time to see the vegetation behind his men rustled into life as a pair of jagged fang filled jaws lashed out to consume an unfortunate Asari Huntress.

"INDOMINUS!" some cried out just as the air was consumed by the rattle of Mass Accelerator fire.

Rising from the undergrowth, an Indominus rex loomed into the air with blood tricking from its jaws. Snapping and shaking its head about madly the Indominus suddenly opened its jaws wide launching the mangled corpse of the Asari huntress out of sight before roaring bloody murder at the array of alien soldiers.

Seemingly unfazed by the wall of bullets striking its hide like pouring rain, the Indominus charged forward claws lashing out to launch a Turian flying across the clearing and into a tree.

Snarling with bloodied jaws, the terrifying giant predator tore right into the ranks of Victus men without fear of hesitation. Eyes gleaming with glee, the Indominus thrashed about with its body using its giant tail like a whip to knock soldiers off their feet or launch them into trees with a sickening crack of breaking bones and armour.

Knowing they couldn't fight an Indominus at close range combat, Victus roared out for his men to run into the trees. Where the Indominus's movements would be hindered by the lush vegetation.

Scattering into the tree line, Victus couldn't help but notice only a handful of his men actually made it to the trees. The rest were either dying upon the ground or were crushed between the fangs of the apex predator ravaging their ranks.

Barking in outrage, the Indominus charged after the fleeing Asari and Turians without hesitation. Using its intensely powerful body, the giant predator forced its way into the lush vegetation, jaws snapping and claws slashing in a futile effort to ensnare another unfortunate victim.

Dashing through the trees, Victus laboured breathing and the crackle of leaves under his boots were all he could hear as he ran for his life. With a rifle in hand and pistol on his hip, Victus knew he wasn't equipped to take down an Indominus rex of such size without getting dangerously close.

His rifle could hurt such a large predator, but killing one required either high explosives or large calibre mass accelerators like a sniper rifle.  
Slightly aware that several of his men were in hot pursuit behind him, Victus ran and ran until his legs felt like lead and his breaths came in ragged gasps.

Slowly jogging to a halt, Victus leaned against a tree for support as several Turians and Daell rushed into his vision with their weapons raised and aimed at the path behind them.

"Sound…off" gasped Victus as he clutched a hand to his chest, throat dry and chest burning with pain one experience from old age.

Listening to his men call out their names, Victus felt his heart drop with misery as less than a third of his unit reported in. The others were either someone else in the forest or killed by the claws of the Indominus rex.

"It…. They can camouflage?" cried out Pedria as he panted from the effort of not only running, but from lugging around his giant machinegun.

"Pigments in their scales shift to better conceal an Indominus from its prey, they can also lower their body temperature making them completely invisible to our sensors" informed Daell bluntly as she scanned the tree line with her shotgun, eyes peering through the undergrowth for a flash of scales or glint or fangs.

"But how can something that big sneak up on us?" stuttered Pedria, head looking back at the Asari commando in bewilderment.

"I'll tell you when I find out the answer" she replied half-jokingly.

 **"Maybe I can answer that question"** the deep growling voice of an Indominus rex made the entire group jump in alarm and spin about to face the new danger.

Weapons primed and ready to fire, Victus and the others watched in surprise as the unmistakable form of an Indominus skull poked down from the trees above. But that wasn't what surprised everyone, it was the form of a Salarian perched on the predators head that stopped the soldiers firing their weapons.

With her scales returning to their original murky white and grey, Dr Chakwas snorted in amusement as she stepped forwards revealing her entire form for the others to see.

For once in his life, Victus was grateful to see an Indominus rex appear out of nowhere, especially when that Indominus rex was on his side.

 **"It took me a few hours but I'm here, and in the time I was gone you all went and got into trouble didn't you"** huffed Chakwas like an irritated parent as she glared down at the soldiers, Daell and the others all looked at one another in confusion before a crackled of snapping branches warned the group of danger.

Bursting through the trees, two rex's strolled into view both snarling and looking ready to kill. One was clearly the Indominus that attacked them before, while the other was a partly armoured Indominus rex with a crude rusty weapon clutched in its claws and ammunition strapped to its chest.

Both predators were between 13 and 15 feet tall at the hip, and well over 40 feet long placing them well below the ginormous size of Chakwas. However it became instantly obvious that even with a squad of soldiers and the friendly Indominus rex, Victus and his men were outmatched and outgunned.

 **"Children… always getting into trouble"** muttered Chakwas as she lowered her head to let Mordin slide off her snout before taking one large step forwards placing herself between Victus men and the hostile rex's.

Standing to her full height and towering over 20 feet into the sky, Chakwas cast a rather intimidating shadow over the smaller apex predators causing the duo to step back hesitantly.

Snapping back to their senses, the Indominus with the weapon stepped forwards and raised its firearm in a threatening manner. Growling something in an unfamiliar language as he did so that made Chakwas tilt her head, inhaling sharply, Chakwas made a similar noise in return.

"Interesting. New language uncommon rarely used. Chakwas vocabulary limited will be problematic." Mused Mordin to himself as she rested a hand against his chin in deep contemplation.

"You heard him, get ready for a fight" whispered Victus as he levelled his rifle upon the enemy rex's.

Around him the rest of his soldiers followed suit, training their fire power past Chakwas and towards the enemy but withholding their fire until it was necessary.

Whatever Chakwas was saying, it seemed to intrigue the unarmed Indominus as said predator slowly moved forward, movement cautious and posture unthreatening.  
Strolling into biting range of the large female, the smaller male rex examined her briefly, before sniffing at her and making more odd noises.

Whatever the male said, Victus instantly notice the shift in Chakwas body language. Muscles going tense and eyes narrowing in rage, Chakwas reply was a sharp and incredibly fast bite to the smaller rex's neck.

The male roared in outrage, tossing about in an effort to free his neck as Chakwas jaws squeezed down relentlessly through the tough armoured hide and into soft flesh.  
Victus men withheld their fire, their sights blocked by the thrashing pair of gigantic predators crashing around the vegetation.

Then the ear shattering boom of an artillery gun discharging ruptured the air, Turian and Asari alike flinched and grasped at their head in pain as the armed Indominus discharged his weapon.

Chakwas kinetic barriers flared into life, deflecting the incoming swarm of fragmented metal and redirecting it harmlessly into the surrounding forest.  
Noticing the danger of the high powered weapon, Chakwas swung her head to the side, causing the Indominus between her jaws to trip and crash to the ground with a puff of dust.

With one adversary temporarily removed, Chakwas turned her gaze to the armed Indominus reloading its pump action like weapon in preparation to fire again.

In two powerful strides, the huge female predator was upon her attacker. With a swipe of her paw Chakwas slapped the rex's weapon aside, causing the weapon to discharge harmlessly into the surrounding forest.

Not giving the rex a chance to retaliate, Chakwas practically tackled the Indominus to the ground using her own skull to violently head butt the opposing male. Stunned and disorientated, the male rex toppled to the ground in pain while Chakwas tore the weapon from his claws.

Flipping the giant cannon like contraption into her hand, Chakwas pulled the forearm grip towards her chest causing a massive shotgun like casing to fly from the receiver with a metallic 'ping'.

Slamming the receiver close and loading a fresh cartridge into the chamber, Chakwas aimed the weapon wildly out to the side with one hand and fired the weapon with a mighty explosion of fire and smoke. Her target, the Indominus rex that had initially ambushed Victus team.

Lacking any armour or kinetic barriers, the Indominus rex was defenceless as large slugs of metal tore through his skulls splatting gore all over the place.  
Victus felt his mandible go limp as he watched the giant female casually execute one of her own kind before reloading her acquired weapon and shoving the barrel into the last Indominus face.

 **"Now those un-pleasantries are aside** " hissed Chakwas darkly as she advanced upon the recovering Indominus male.

Seeing Chakwas towering above him, the remaining Indominus dropped to the ground in a submissive manner making all sorts of pitiful noises in the process.  
But the female didn't seem to care and slammed her foot down upon the Indominus side pinning him to the ground painfully while keeping the giant firearm levelled with his head.

 **"Tell me where I can find Shepard's territory"** Chakwas growled, her gaze bearing down upon the smaller predator in a murderous fashion.

 **"She's held up a few hours East…. Near a river we think it's the only place we didn't look….Are you after the bounty as well?"** barked the small male eyes staring down the barrel of his own weapon.

"Bounty?" asked Victus as he walked closer with weapon in hand, the Indominus glanced at him with irritation but a firm push of Chakwas foot against his rib cage reminded him who was in control.

 **"Cerberus has placed a wealthy bounty for the capture of a Tech priest in Shepard's pack, their offering anything in exchange for Shepard's tech priest…. Including fertile females"** hissed the rex, his eyes dancing between Chakwas and Victus with uncertainty, hoping anything he said would increase his chances of survival.

When Victus gestured for the Indominus to continue, the young male didn't hesitate to let the words dribble from his jaws.

 **"My Alpha struck a deal with Alenko and Miranda's packs to hunt Shepard down…. The bitch moved in decades ago and stole a lot of land from my pack and we want it back…. I'm sure my Alpha would be willing to make a deal with you if you got a bone to pick with Shepard as well"** mused the Indominus in a hopeful manner.

 **"How many rex's are involved in this hunt?"** asked Chakwas sternly.

 **"20 or so…. I don't know I was ordered to follow Shepard scent trail when we stumbled upon these pitiful aliens"** barked the Indominus casting a disgusted glance at Victus and the others.

 **"Your strong, help me kill the little vermin and I guarantee you'll find a place in our pack"** the Indominus glanced up to stare Chakwas right in the eyes.  
 **  
**For a frightful moment, the elderly female Indominus seemed to consider the proposition. She glanced at Victus, then to his men before back towards the young male beneath her feet. Her reply was a swift pull of the trigger and an explosion of flames.

The deafening blast nearly knocked Victus off his feet, while a splatter of gore flew in all directions. Chakwas meanwhile seemed unfazed as she promptly removed the ammunition belt from the deceased rex's corpse and looked down upon the stunned soldiers around her with an innocent expression. **  
**  
"Must move quickly. Shepard running out of time in immediate danger" mused Mordin out loud as he moved towards Chakwas who held out a hand for the small Salarian to clamber upon.

"You heard him, gather the dead and get in radio contact with anyone who survive the ambush move it people lets go" called out Victus as he slung his rifle onto his back.

* * *

 **Sol System  
2177  
Earth  
Regional rain forest  
Shepard's territory  
1100 hours local time  
2 days since Vakarians kidnapping**

With an irritated growl and a snap of her killer jaws, the Alpha female known as Shepard slowly rose to her feet. Blinking away the sleep and dizzy daze from her eyes, the giant Indominus rex stretched her armoured limbs which rattled about as armour scrapped against armour plating.

Sleeping in full battle gear was an uncomfortable experience for the large apex predator, with bulky plates of armour digging into her flesh at odd angles and the weight of the dark matter reactor upon her back weighing down upon her spine, it was a miracle the Indominus rex was able to gather an ounce of sleep from her prolonged discomfort.

Shuffling about to stretch her sore limbs, Shepard swept her gaze across the darkness of her room. Using a small biotic pulse of energy inside her armour, the Indominus activated the night vision setting upon her tactical heads up display, casting the entire room into a glowing green hue allowing her to see everything clearly.

Scanning the room over with confusion, Shepard noticed the absence of a rather blue armoured individual. Garrus wasn't in sight, nor was his gear.

But where could he have gone without waking her?

Clicking her teeth in agitation and swaying her tail back and forth with anxiety, Shepard sniffed the air for the spicy like aroma of the Turians scent, she sniffed and sniffed, slowly moving across the room with her head angled towards the floor to better direct her sense of smell.

As she sniffled about, her eyes landed upon something out of place in the room.

A data pad, but not just any data pad.

Garrus's Data Pad.

Her attention drawn to the metal framed piece of glass and technology, the Indominus abandoned her hunt for the elusive young Turian and focused solemnly upon the data pad before her. Another pulse of biotic energy deactivated the night vision.

While huge by human or Turian standards, the Indominus made Data Pad was the rex's equivalent in size to an IPhone. With a sturdy metal frame and complex claw tracking technology, the item was rather simple to use despite their limited storage capacity for something so big.

Activating the device, Shepard accessed the primary folder bringing up the terms and conditions of the contract she'd offered Garrus just last night.  
The contract was a rather dull affair, with information outlining ownership, legal powers, responsibilities, rights and many traditional customs that were all but laws in the Indominus community.

It also guaranteed citizenship upon Earth for non Terran species, something that in recent years had been growing in numbers since smugglers and outlaws had somehow began trading with the Terran Population.

Reading over the contract, Shepard was left speechless as she came across several of what she assumed to be Garrus's signatures agreeing to the terms offered.

Slowly falling to the floor to sit on her backside, Shepard stared down at the data pad between her claws, eyes skimming over the text for a second time to ensure she hadn't been imagining the whole thing.

Garrus Vakarian had agreed to all the terms of contract, leaving it now up to Shepard to finalise the official document and take ownership of the young Turian as a member of her….. Family. But did Garrus truly understand what that mean?

Being part of a pack was a heavy commitment, a hard one filled with danger for someone as small and inexperience as himself. Earths ecosystems were dangerous, predators loomed behind ever bush and harsh storms ravaged the country side during the change of seasons.

In other words, Shepard wasn't sure she'd be able to keep the Turian alive if he joined her pack…..

The sound of tearing metal and roars of surprise snapped the Alpha female from her thoughts, remembering that her pack was in danger from invasion of rival Indominus rex's, Shepard activated her biotics causing a bluish purple mist of energy to surround her body.

Charging out of her room ready for battle, one could only imagine Shepard's irritation as she stormed out of the warehouse only to discover Ash snarling in rage as she practically hopped about on one foot. Beside her a broken metal crate of ammunition sprawled across the floor, its deadly cargo rolling about dangerous threatening to explode at any given moment.

Pausing in her hopping, the pink scaled armoured Indominus rex glared at her injured foot. While several plates of nanite infused battle armour covered the toes from damage, it did no such task in preventing the kinetic energy of say, a falling crate from crushing ones foot.

Snarling and wiggling her toes about experimentally, Ash took one glance at Shepard and froze as she saw the Indominus glowing with anger.

 **"ASH!"** barked the Alpha female in anger, her quills arcing upwards in an intimidating manner.

 **"Skipper I can explain"** chittered Ash in fear, taking a step back as the larger female drew closer clearly pissed off about something.

 **"I thought we were under attack you clown!"** Shepard snapped her jaws, a pulse of biotic energy lashing out from her body to slam into Ash's chest with the force of cannon shell.

Ash yelped as she was thrown several meters through the air and into the undergrowth of the forest with a crash of splintering wood and crumbling leaves.

Inhaling sharply to regain authority over her own powers, Shepard regained her composure and put on a straight stern expression as she watched Ash slowly remerge from the foliage covered in plant matter.

 **"Enough antics, what happened?"** growled Shepard, her eyes glaring at the smaller Beta and waiting for a response.

Flinching at the harshness of Shepard's voice, the Indominus composed herself and stood tall and proud in front of her commanding officer.

 **"Skipper I was loading our stock of 88mm missiles onto the wagon when the strapping broke and the crate landed upon my foot… the crates damaged but the ammo looks intact sir"** spoke Ash as calmly as she could, her chest was burning from the impact of the biotic attack and her shoulder was still tender beneath its layer of protective bandages. But she gave no indication of this as she stood before the demonic Indominus rex.

Shepard examined the loose munitions rolling freely upon the ground before shaking her head with irritation, she knew Ash was one hell of a warrior and devoted to the safety of the pack. But when faced with anything less than cooking or fighting, the pink Indominus was almost hopelessly clumsy.

 **"Secure the ammo Ash…. How's the packing going any problems apart from this?"** asked Shepard as she slowly calmed down and deactivated her biotics.

 **"No problems sir, we got most of our medical supplies and anything light enough to carry from the general supply storage…. Book was stripping her workshop for resources and Gahrus was on patrol… Not sure where they are now however"** Informed Ash bluntly, her claws reaching down to ensnare several missiles resting between her and Shepard's feet.

Shepard blinked in surprise, Garrus was on patrol?

Recollecting the fact that the small Turian had signed the contract to be part of this pack, Shepard guessed the Turian wasn't wasting any time in fulfilling his commitments… Even if that meant putting his neck on the line for safety of the pack.

 **"I thought you'd be against an alien patrolling the nest for hostile Ash.. What changed?"** mused the Alpha female in mild amusement, eyes watching the smaller predator's body language for a reply.

 **"Normally…. I would"** Ash paused in her task **"But something is… different about him, he's not like the others of his kind."**

Shepard raised an eye ridge in reply, head tilting in a quizzical manner at the pink Indominus rex.

 **"Book went looking for him some time ago, something about 'Calibrations' or what not"** Ash shrugged her shoulders in bewilderment before going back to the task at hand.

Shepard was equally clueless about why Book needed the Turian for 'Calibrations' what more, what the hell was Book calibrating in her work shop?  
Taking a moment to examine the huge wagons they would be using to transport their supplies, Shepard gave them a brief inspections to ensure everything was in order.

The wagons would be pulled by several partly trained livestock they possessed in a clearing close to the warehouse, while not ideal for the task the beast would prove invaluable in moving the resources to a new secure location. It also freed Book and Ash from having to drag the wagons and allowed them to better herd their livestock towards the Arcadian clan territory.

Or defend themselves in case Alenko and his pack find them…

Pausing to inspect some leather straps used to secure cargo crates to the wagon, Shepard gave the straps a brief tug to ensure they were firmly attached to the crudely fashion metal platform before turning her attention to Ash once more.

 **"I'm going to look for Garrus and Book, roar if anything is wrong"** informed Shepard as she moved away from the wagons and towards the forest edge surrounding the warehouse.

Shepard assumed it would be best to start at the river flowing nearby for the elusive and childish duo, there was no telling what kind of trouble or antics those two had pursued in her absence and she was worried Book may have ran into danger.

Shepard had a suspicion why the small Tech Priest was at the centre of so much attention, but she'll need to consult with Garrus first to analyse his findings about the implant he discovered in Books skull.

* * *

 **"Where could he be?"** mused Book to herself as she thundered through the undergrowth, chest clad in protective armour plating and high powered combat gear attached to her back, Book was ready to face any hostiles lying in wait to ambush her or her family.

With a pair of blue handmade head phones strapped to her head pounding away with music, the Indominus rex bobbed her head to the rhythm of one of her favourite songs while her eyes darted about in search of the elusively small armoured Turian.

Pushing her way through the undergrowth and squeezing between tightly clustered trees, the brown Indominus rex cautiously made her way through the forest eyes scanning the vegetation below her for any hint of the Turians presence.

She needed Garrus to finish running the new software upgrades to Shepard's missile pods and finalise the calibrations to the targeting system he'd installed the other night.

While being highly talented in the manipulation of Terran Dark Matter technology, Book couldn't make heads or tails of the software the Turian was using to calibrate the missile pods and she'd rather avoid messing with the advance programming in case she blew something up by mistake.

Waving her tail with a growl of irritation, the massive predator snapped her fangs in a dangerous manner as she continued to scan the undergrowth for her elusive prey. Slipping partly into predator mode, Book lowered her muzzle to the forest below and began sniffing the earth for the almost spicy like cent of the Turian.

Rummaging about the place using her heighten sense of smell to guide her, Book cautiously shifted through the forest her eyes narrowed as she tried to remember Garrus scent. Thinking about the spicy smell reminded Book of how hungry she actually was, it'd been a while since she last ate and Turians didn't taste too bad….

With a snap of her jaws, Book recoiled in shock at her own train of thought and clutched her head with both hands.

 _'Bad Book no eating Garrus'_ screamed the human side of her mind in horror.

 ** _'Just a little nibble wouldn't hurt, we don't need all of him'_** huffed the Indominus side of Books mind as she continued to clutch her own head.  
 _  
'Were not eating or hurting Garrus!'_ the human side of her brain all but roared in outrage.

Book let loose a furious roar of frustration and lashed out at the closest tree with her deadly claws, splinters of wood flew in all direction as the giant sickle like blades tore through the unfortunate trees trunk.

Panting heavily and visibly shaking with rage, Book glanced at the tree she attacked to see 3 savage claw marks etched into the trunks surface. Glancing down at her claws, Book slowly curled her fingers into a set of fist.

 **"No wonder people call us monsters"** whispered Book in despair.

Feeling conflicted and emotional, the small Tech Priest lumbered through the forest towards the nearby river system. Maybe some fish would appease her hunger and help her think straight.

Once more using her body's bulk and raw power to force her way through the tangled mass of the forest vegetation. The troubled predator casually make her way towards the river system and in just a few minutes had cleared the thick curtain of trees to walk upon the stony pebbled surface that made up the river's edge.

Trying to focus on the beat of the music pounding against her skull, Book stared at her own reflection in the shimmering surface of the water below her.  
Yellowish fangs lined her jaw in a messy manner, hard protective scales covered her flesh and pinkish quills decorated her skull.

For a moment, Book wished her reflection was of a young girl with smooth soft skin, blunt squared teeth and locks of brown falling down around her shoulders.

Shaking her head, Book closed her eyes and lowered her jaws into the water's surface, destroying her reflection and allowing cool liquid to fill her mouth.  
Something hard struck her submerged jaws, and out of instinctual reflexes Book snapped her jaws shut.

Raising her muzzle from the water's surface, Book was surprised to see the tail of a fish flailing about out of the edge of her jaws.  
Staring wide eyed at the fish between her deadly fangs, the Tech priest slowly titled her head back and allowed her jaws to part. Causing the unfortunate fish to tumble down the dark fleshy abyss of the predator's throat and into darkness.

Licking her fangs, Book glanced around the river bank, her eyes searching for any footprints or clues as to the ware about of her elusive alien companion.  
To her surprise, she found a Turian all right, the downside, it wasn't wearing blue armour….

Recoiling in horror with a surprised roar, the small Indominus rex stumbled about as she backpedalled away from the distant form of a Turian. Clad in black and red armour with some kind of rifle in his hands, the Turians dark plated face held familiar white markings that reminded the Tech Priest of someone.

Narrowing her eyes and composing her posture, Book felt a wave of furry flood her brain as she recognised those markings and that particular armour. Or at least she thought she did, it was hard to tell the difference between Turians.

Standing nearly 50 meters away, with his rifle raised and partly panicked expression across his alien face, was none other than Andrien Victus, the Turian bastard who tranquilised her a mere days ago.

 ** _'We can eat this one right?'_** questioned the Indominus side of Books personality with hesitation.

 _'Yep, bone apatite'_ replied the human portion of Book in a sinister tone.

Crouching low to better control the inertia of her body weight, Book leaned back slightly as her muscle tensed in preparation to attack. With her jaws partly drooling and quills arched in an aggressive manner, the once humble tech priest looked ready to murder everything in sight with her bare claws.

All this, aimed at one unfortunate Turian just trying to get a drink from the river.

With a snap of her jaws, Book's muscles flexed with unimaginable power. Her claws flung stones in all directions and the earth itself shuddered as the Indominus rex launch itself like a ballistic missile towards her prey.

Nothing would stop her, she would skin flesh from the aliens bones and break his miserable body into a billion pieces, he would PAY!

But before she could latch her jaws around her would be prey, Book was mortified to spot a familiar blue form exploded from the foliage of the undergrowth and jump into her path.

She'd found Garrus, problem was. He was protecting the enemy!

Book skidded to halt, her powerful legs flinging pebbles in all directions and her jaws came dangerously close to snapping upon the Turians skull in the process, but stubbornly as all Turians could be. Garrus held his ground despite the towering predator glowering down upon him.

 **"MOVE ASIDE!"** bellowed Book, spit flying from her jaws to lather the young Turians armour and face.

"Book stop he's a friend" spat Garrus in reply.

Book snarled at his words, her claws reached out to nudge the Turian to the side so she could catch her prey just a few meters away standing behind her companion.

But Garrus dodged her claws and remained firmly between her and Victus, his eyes burning with a stubborn determination that made Book inside green with envy.

But why was she envious?

 **"GARHUS MOVE ASIDE!"** Book ordered with a howl that sent ripples across the rivers surface.

Garrus didn't move, he remained firmly planted in front of the furious apex predator likely deaf from the roar of Books voice but very much alive and intact. A feat that made the Turian General nearby feel a growing amount of respect for the boy each passing second.

No one could claim to face down a charging Indominus rex, only to stop it in its tracks.

 **"This bastard tried to put me in a cell, he deserve to DIE!"** Book snarled, her jaws lunging over Garrus's head to attack the motionless Turian.

Victus dived to the side narrowly avoiding those murderous fangs which ensnared a mouth full of rock instead of himself. Garrus was moving within a flash, throwing himself forward to position himself once more between the Indominus and the Turian General.

"I don't believe that" yelled Garrus staring at Book as she spat the stones into the river and made a sinister clicking sound with her jaws.

 **"I do"** she lunged again, head butting Garrus effortlessly to the side and almost snatching Victus in the process.

But the old Turian had experience avoiding teeth of death and rolled to the side positioning himself in the blind spot under Books neck. Which sadly however place him right in grasping range of those claws.

Four clawed digits lashed out to ensnare her prey, but instead of the old Turian Books claws clasped down upon Garrus armoured hide and he let out a pained yelled as her bone crushing grip encased his body.

 **"Stay out of this!"** Book hissed with furry as she noticed who was between her claws, trembling with anger Book tossed the young Turian into the river.

And Garrus disappeared from sight with a loud, wet splash.

Victus saw this all unravel, and his mandibles went limp as he saw the young prison guard be thrown into the rivers murky depths.  
Turians evolved on a world with little water, their hides were lased with reflective metals to protect them from a harsh rays of the sun, and they never evolved with any form of natural buoyancy.

The boy would drown.

"Garrus" yelled out Victus as he rushed towards the water's surface, his mind temporarily forgetting the danger at hand.

Book's claws lashed out before the elderly Turian could get more than 2 paces, her fingers clasped down like a hydraulic press causing Victus armour and bones to groan in protest beneath the unrelenting force.

Jaws salivating and teeth trembling with eagerness, Book hissed in triumph as she angled the Turian so he could look her in the eyes before she ended him.  
She wanted the old bastard to remember her face when she sent him to the afterlife.

"Wa AHHH" cried Victus as Book squeezed the Turian tighter with her claws, she mentally smiled with morbid satisfaction as she made the Turian suffer.

But she was curious what the alien's last words would be, so giving one final squeeze she loosened her grip so he could breath. It's not like he could escape her claws.

"He 'gasp' caa 'pant' SWIM!" spluttered the Turian between jagged breaths.

It took a moment for those words to sink through Books rage induced mind and past the savagery of not only her human but Indominus instincts thirsting for blood. When the words did register however, Books face slowly contorted into a look of horror as her quills flared in a startled manner and her eyes widen until they were bulging from her skull.

Only one thought register in the Tech Priest mind.

Save Garrus!

Dropping the elderly Turian un-ceremonially upon the ground, the almost 9 tonne predator flexed her muscles and launched herself into the river with a mighty explosion of water.

Victus found himself nearly drowned as a wave of water rushed across the river bank, droplets were thrown high into the air and several fish flapped about as they were thrown upon dry land by the impact.

At the same time the Indominus rex all but vanished beneath the water's surface.

Moments passed, Victus regained his breath and radioed his team to converge upon his position. If they hadn't heard the furry of the Indominus, than he doubted they weren't already rushing to his position to save him.

Minutes ticked by, and the water had settled leaving no trace of Books violent entry except the few fish still on the river bank.

Then without warning, the water once more exploded as a giant skull burst through the surface.  
Brown scales gleamed in the sunlight and sickly fangs held fast around the armoured torso of a white plated Turian male. Book gasped for breath her nose spewing a fine mist of water in all directions, with her eyes wide and head soaking wet, Book slowly swam to the river's edge to gentle deposited her cargo upon the bank.

Cooing with worry and gently nudging the motionless form of the young Turian with her snout, Book let loose a distressed roar which rattle the heavens and echoed into the distance.

Victus rushed forward, mindful of the possibly murderous Indominus rex he dragged the Turian further onto dry land and rolled the boy on his side to hopefully clear his air ways.

Water dribbled from Garrus's limp jaws, pooling into a small puddle beside his head. Victus waved his omni-tool about to check for life signs, but from the information transponding from the Turian internal armour systems, the results were not promising.

Waving the device around once more, Victus slumped backwards in defeat, his eyes noticing something unusual marked into the back of the young boys armour.

 **"Garrus you wake up you hear me"** croaked Book as she nuzzled the Turians limp form once more.

 **"Get up, I'm sorry for screaming at you I didn't mean it"** whined Book desperately, her eyes going all watery as they stared at the unmoving form below her.

 **"Garrus, Garrus…. GARRUS!"** the Indominus began to sob in despair as she let her head slump to the ground beside her drowned companion.

This was all her fault, she caused this, and she killed one of her rare few friends all over some petty desire for revenge. Why couldn't she do something right, why did her friends keep dying and there was nothing she could do to help?

 _'No we can't give up'_ shouted the human in her.

 ** _'No more die!'_** cried the Indominus and Book felt pain rush through her body.

Her skull felt like it was going to explode, her muscles trembled violently and a dark almost black glow warped itself around her body. A swirling mist obscured the Indominus from view, Book wanted to scream in pain but her body didn't reply as whatever she was doing defied her the ability to speak.

Nearby Victus scrambled away as he watched what appeared to be black biotics engulf the Indominus before him, blocking her from view and sending a ripple through the air that made the old Turian shudder.

Slowly, the mist began to compact itself. Swirling and twirling across Books body until it slowly began stretching outwards from her body towards Garrus.  
Victus watched this display of dark biotic energy slowly engulfed the dead Turians form, it was frightening and mesmerising at the same time. But something about it felt synthetic, artificial, and not natural like the biotics of a Cobalt or Asari, nor even an Indominus's.

But as he sat their watching, Victus saw Book use this smoky like ability to draw the water from Garrus's lungs.  
With the water now clear, the smoky biotics began to condense within Books open jaws.

As the smoke receded and crawled into her mouth, Victus spotted the look of pain upon the Indominus's face.  
If he didn't know better, Victus would say whatever she was doing was all but killing her in the process.

But as stubbornly as humanly possible, Book didn't stop as she condense all of the smoke into a single orb between her jaws that glowed almost magically with a red light.

Lowering her jaws towards the corpse, Book exhaled sharply and the sphere launched outwards and stuck Garrus fair in the chest, right above his heart.  
With a gasp and slight splutter, the young Turian sprang bolt upright with a startled and disorientated look upon his face.

Book took a ragged breath, her body trembling like as if she was left in the bitter frozen cold. Her eyes gleamed with exhaustion and pain, but also a slight joy as she watched the Turian glance around in disorientation.

She done it, she wasn't sure how she did it but she knew what happened. Book wasn't sure how she could manipulate such energy, but condensing it into a single pulse into Garrus unmoving heart jump started the muscle once more like a defibulator.

….. Book wasn't sure what a Defibulator was but it must be medical related…

"It's… impossible" muttered Victus as he watched the bewildered Turian start shouting at his scaly companion who only nuzzled him zealously with affection.

Victus nearly laughed when he heard Garrus begin to protest against the affection.  
It was at this time, that Victus team arrived upon the scene.

"Sir!" cried out Daell as she noticed her commanding officers battered armour.

Pedria raised his machinegun towards the Indominus, a startled expression across his face while the others of his squad flanked outwards weapons at the ready and all eyes stared with confusion as Book assaulting Garrus with affection.

Chakwas lumbering form burst through the trees, the form of Mordin Solus perched upon her head sitting cross legged in a meditated pose.  
She took one look towards the half submerged Indominus nearby and made a funny noise in the back of her throat that caught Books attention.

Eyes widening as she only just noticed the squad of heavily armed people nearby, Book reached out to place her hand in front of Garrus in a protective fashion while her quills perked to make herself look more aggressive.

 **"Stay back!"** she snarled, eyes wide with fear as she stared at the armoured and armed form of Chakwas at the rear of the group.

"Easy easy we don't mean any harm" wheeze Victus as he limped into view between his men and the frightened Indominus.

Victus had a very bad feeling that this Indominus rex, this rather small female was this supposed 'Tech Priest' he heard about from the last civilised Indominus he encountered. This was the female someone was willing to trade their own flesh in blood to possess, and after witnessing an act that defies all logic he could see why she was so valuable.

"Book easy Victus is a good man" tried to reason Garrus from behind his protective wall of claws.

 **"Shhh quiet you stay out of this"** snapped Book like an irritated parent before turning her attention back to the matter at hand.

 **"Easy child, we mean you no harm"** said Chakwas softly as she placed her weapon upon the ground and stepped backwards, lowering her head in a submissive posture to hopefully display her peaceful intent.

The mix of Turians and Asari present stood about unsure what to do, this was beyond their experience or paygrade to be handling sapient Rex's who could think let alone talk.

Before anything could spiral out of control, the air rustled and both Indominus's shuddered as they felt a change in the air.  
Everyone noticed a feeling of lightness wash over them, like the feeling of gravity being disengaged upon a warship in space.

Weightlessness overtook everyone as they were consumed by a blue glow, everyone that is except both Indominus rex's who remained firmly upon the ground unaffected by the plays of gravity at large.

Several pebbles rosed into the air, droplets of water rose from the river and slowly something rose from the bushes nearby.  
A massive form stepped into the light, her body encased in a shimmery blue glow of biotic energy.

Her eyes seemed to burn with an unholy blaze, those amber red orbs slowly moved from each and every individual present in the immediate area.  
Scales shifting to their original midnight black gleam and fangs slowly parting to reveal a biotic pulse hovering on the tip of her tongue.

Shepard stood like a demon from hell itself for everyone to see, her body raised to its full height and quills trembling with furry as she looked about.

 **"I do believe"** Shepard's voice was sharp as a blade, her words echoing ghostly upon the air as people flailed about in their own personal bubbles of mass effect fields that negated the laws of gravity.

 **"I clearly stated, that if you follow me Victus."** Shepard looked the lone Turian right in the eyes.

 **"I would eat you."**

To be continued….

* * *

 **SOOOOOOooooooooo like the little surprise to the story? heheheh all will be explained in the next chapter my loyal readers but I want to know what you think of this, why do you think Book is special and your theories behind it.**

 **There is an explanation and it wasn't something I made up on the spot but something I've been waiting to reveal since the first chapter ^.=.^;**

 **Now onto other matters, you'll all roll your eyes or curse at me for saying this, but I tried doing another rewrite of this fic again... Yes I know that'd make it the 5th time I tried this but still I tried. I just feel the fic is missing something, something the first attempt grasped then I unintentionally destroyed...**

 **I Tried to write a traditional First Contact story with humanity as Rex's, but it just didn't feel right so I scrapped it, not sure how to make it work... It's fun to write about these massive and deadly creatures, they are so powerful in so many ways, but so limited in others. I can also safely say you wont find another fic like this anywhere on the web, well 95% sure anyway hehe.**

 **Hope your all well, the next chapter will take a few weeks to compose and edit, I spent several weeks working on this chapter trying to refine it into a finish product. Take care!**


End file.
